RIP, Aunt Carol
I wrote earlier today about the death of my Aunt Carol. As I searched for things to say I found it hard to escape my frustration over some negative aspects of her personality. That journal entry is friends-locked. As I reconsidered it with greater detachment I realized I could share positive things, too. I'll do that here.
My aunt, Carol K., passed away on Sunday. She was just a few days shy of her 88th birthday. She was born and raised in New York City. She was the first of three children. My aunt Diane and my mother are her younger sisters.
Carol graduated with a bachelors degree from Wellesley College and earned a Masters from Columbia University. Her academic achievement put her in a select group of women at the time. After earning her post-graduate degree she worked for the publisher of Time magazine. Women were not well embraced in advanced jobs in industry at that time. Sure, plenty of women were typists, secretaries, and phone operators. But Carol had the academic preparation to be a researcher and a writer. She left the magazine after a few years without ever getting a byline.
Carol married Ed K., a university professor, and began raising a family. Their sons, William and James, are my cousins and are close in age to me. Sadly I only saw them once every few years growing up. They lived in Indiana, then Texas, as my uncle pursued his teaching career. Today I'd think nothing of traveling to their old homes to visit relatives; but when I was a child, money was tight in the family and travel was a rarity. I wish it could have been different as I always treasured our time together on their visits and longed for the next.
Carol lived in Texas for 25 years where, in addition to being a wife and mother, she also worked as a high school teacher. She moved from Texas to Nebraska in 2011 after her husband died. She was suffering from Alzheimer's and not able to live on her own. She moved into a care facility in the town where my cousin James had recently taken a job as a college professor- sort of following in his father's footsteps.
Carol lived in Nebraska the past 13 years. While her Alzheimer's condition progressed she was in a good place, with some family nearby. James visited her regularly along with her granddaughter.
Carol is survived by her two sisters, her two sons, three grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews and their children.
My aunt, Carol K., passed away on Sunday. She was just a few days shy of her 88th birthday. She was born and raised in New York City. She was the first of three children. My aunt Diane and my mother are her younger sisters.
Carol graduated with a bachelors degree from Wellesley College and earned a Masters from Columbia University. Her academic achievement put her in a select group of women at the time. After earning her post-graduate degree she worked for the publisher of Time magazine. Women were not well embraced in advanced jobs in industry at that time. Sure, plenty of women were typists, secretaries, and phone operators. But Carol had the academic preparation to be a researcher and a writer. She left the magazine after a few years without ever getting a byline.
Carol married Ed K., a university professor, and began raising a family. Their sons, William and James, are my cousins and are close in age to me. Sadly I only saw them once every few years growing up. They lived in Indiana, then Texas, as my uncle pursued his teaching career. Today I'd think nothing of traveling to their old homes to visit relatives; but when I was a child, money was tight in the family and travel was a rarity. I wish it could have been different as I always treasured our time together on their visits and longed for the next.
Carol lived in Texas for 25 years where, in addition to being a wife and mother, she also worked as a high school teacher. She moved from Texas to Nebraska in 2011 after her husband died. She was suffering from Alzheimer's and not able to live on her own. She moved into a care facility in the town where my cousin James had recently taken a job as a college professor- sort of following in his father's footsteps.
Carol lived in Nebraska the past 13 years. While her Alzheimer's condition progressed she was in a good place, with some family nearby. James visited her regularly along with her granddaughter.
Carol is survived by her two sisters, her two sons, three grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews and their children.