Carol was born in 1931 in Lansing, MI. She attended Michigan State College where she met her future husband Ken on a blind date set up by her best friend. Their marriage lasted almost 68 years and her wedding band never left her finger since the day Ken slipped it on her hand.
They settled in Williamston, and Carol thoroughly enjoyed transitioning from being a city girl to a farm wife. She devoted herself to the most important job in the world…raising 5 daughters and spending time with her extended family. Carol always said how blessed she and Ken were to have such a wonderful family.
At a young age, Carol took piano lessons. She suffered through them, only because after each lesson her instructor would also teach her to knit. Carol continued knitting throughout her life and taught many children to knit as a 4-H leader.
Carol traveled often with family and was always up for an adventure whether it was to some exotic location, a simple camping trip or the annual fall shopping trip to Mackinaw City. She loved reading, collecting cranberry glass, MSU sports, crafting, flower gardening and anything red in color. She perfected the art of baking Cowboy Cookies. Her glass was perpetually half-full and she was the eternal optimist. Carol was active in the Vantown Community Church.
All of her grandchildren found her to be a big kid at heart. She loved bright colors, lava lamps and any music with a beat including hip-hop and Latin, all of which she had no idea what was being said…but she loved the beat. She would play hours of the card game Aggravation as well as Uno and Yahtzee. Because of her love of birds, she worked hard at teaching the kids to say the word at an early age. She was also known as the “back-scratcher extraordinaire”. Carol proudly became “Grapes-Grandma” in 1999.
Her typical advice before parting with any family member was a sly smile and the words “Behave yourself” or “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Jesus welcomed her into Heaven, along with her parents Art and Leone, step-father Dan, brother and sister-in-law, Dean and Gail, brother, Danny and many friends.
She is survived by her husband Kenneth, daughters Gail (Steve) Houser, Laurie Van Patten, Kathy Van Patten (Mike Gurecki), Christi (Dan) Palmer and Shannon (Steve) Martin. Grandchildren Michelle, Danny, RJ, Brian; Niki; Devan, Ethan; and Katie. Great-grandchildren Bryce, Emma, Luke, Abbey, Alaina, Gabe, Neil, Hunter; Sarah; and one more on the way. Sister-in-law Di Webster; her cat Mitzie – (the reigning queen of the house for 21 years); various grand-dogs; and special friend Dorothy Chelf.
The family wishes to extend their sincere thanks to the staff at McLaren Hospital, Haven of Rest and Great Lakes Caring Hospice. Your care and thoughtfulness was much appreciated. We also wish to extend a special thanks to Amanda, Annie and Kristin who stuck with us at the very end. You were amazing!
A celebration of life service will be held on March 24, 2018 at the Vantown Community Church at 3504 East Howell Road Webberville, MI 48892. Greeting and reminiscing time with family and friends will take place starting at 1pm, with a short service to follow at 2pm.
This is not a funeral…please come in bright cheerful clothing! An old fashioned ice cream social with home-made cookies will follow.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Vantown Community Church (address above), Haven of Rest, 2447 N. Williamston Rd, Williamston, MI. 48895, or Great Lakes Caring Hospice, 900 Cooper St. Jackson, MI 49202.
