By Julia Boyle
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Baltimore-born and -bred Carolyn Glauber Sibley was the face of Charm  City’s legendary chocolate company, Glauber’s Fine Candies.

“My brother was the candymaker, but I handled the customers,” Sibley says. “I’m a people person,” she adds. Her bubbly personality makes that easy to  believe. 

At age 13, Sibley went with her mother to sell thefamily’s handmade German chocolates at Federal Hill’s Cross Street Market and the famed Lexington Market downtown.

Growing up in the business
In 1963, she began managing their first retail store in Eastpoint. Eventually, she went on to open and manage stores in Yorkridge and Perring Plaza.

But for the last five years of the business, she was behind the scenes and away from what she loved most—people. That changed six years ago, when she moved to Oak Crest in Parkville.

Rekindling old ties
Sibley found that many of her past customers were her new neighbors. “Once they found out my [maiden] name was Glauber, they would come up to me and tell me that they used to shop in our stores,” she says. “I had missed the public in the last five years that we ran the business, so it’s great that I’m here now,” she adds.

Active retirement
Sibley is involved in numerous activities at Oak Crest. “I was in the bocce ball tournament last fall, the Wii bowling tournament this summer, and I do water exercise in the pool twice a week,” she says. “Once a month I go to ‘armchair travel,’ where we watch a travel film and then have a discussion about it afterward.”

She also plans to plant a garden in one of the community garden beds this spring and help decorate Oak Crest’s chapel for holidays like Christmas and Easter.

‘One Grand Reunion’
Most recently, Sibley helped organize and publicize the Towson High School centennial celebration, “One Grand Reunion.” “We started planning it well over a year ago,” she says.