Carolyn Elaine Erickson

Carolyn Elaine Erickson born May 22, 1976, passed away Friday, November 17, 2023. An unpreventable and untreatable massive cerebral aneurysm stole the life of a most remarkable and beautiful person. All that truly knew her can reflect on her brilliance, generosity, and the assertive character that she possessed. Every day she demonstrated a willingness to help others to become more productive and to encourage growth and faith in their individual persona; it was one of her many strengths. She was never satisfied with the existing state of affairs, and she never lost an argument (she did, however, win it with a sparkle in her eye and a gentle smile).

As a child who read at an early age, children’s books and newspaper articles quickly became boring. Instead, she preferred to read pages of Webster’s Dictionary and then to quiz her parents. Carolyn could never read enough or learn enough at any age as evidenced throughout her life. If she didn’t know the answer to something, she would research it until she did.

Carolyn was at the top of her 1994 class of Bishop McGuinness High School and was a Girls’ State representative and served as the wrestling team’s scorekeeper for four years. Upon graduation from high school, she chose Oklahoma City University to further her academic pursuits. As a recipient of multiple grants, she graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Asian Studies and a minor in Mandarin Chinese.

To further her knowledge of Asian studies she then attended Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, California, and obtained an MA in Intercultural Studies in May of 2000. After graduating from GGBTS she worked for the International Mission Board. For two years she lived in Yunnan, China, (on multiple occasions in a mud hut) and was part of a team that conducted ethnographic research on the Wa minority and established the NGO Global Harvest. Additionally, she worked in the Southeast Asia head office in Thailand assisting with expense reports and accounting.

Upon her return to the States, she worked at Bank First in Norman, first as a receptionist, on to customer service within six months, and then head of decedent and trust/estate accounts within a year. Fluent in both French and Chinese, she assisted a multitude of customers. When she left banking and entered public education in January of 2005, she took a defunct HS French program, and within a year and a half, built it into a College Board certified AP program. Her classes were maxed out and had a waiting list of students wanting to enter. To that end, she frequently had multiple sessions within a class hour and gave up her planning period to accommodate all who wished to participate.

Her second and “third” master’s degrees were in Educational Administration (one for her and one for her brother), a program she completed in a little over a year, and which consisted of a curriculum she found to be less than challenging as the material and information was already second nature to her. At this time, she was approached by district administration and asked to come out of the classroom and assist administratively at Western Heights Middle School. One nine weeks turned into two, which led to the assistant principal position the following year, and then to head principal the year after that. While there she implemented multiple research-based initiatives including a school-wide writing and literacy program, redesigned the Professional Learning Community into a fully activated governing body, and incorporated data-driven curriculum analysis and instructional effectiveness alignment.

She left the Western Heights school district in June 2016 and joined the Oklahoma City Public School District in July of 2016 as a School Climate Specialist with emphasis in school culture, attendance and discipline. Carolyn was a presenter and speaker for the entire school district as well as individual site-based schools. Her presentations were always on relevant issues mixed with humor and with Q&A formatting to help the district as a whole become more effective and accountable in the hopes of creating a more transparent district.

In 2016 she became a volunteer school district evaluator with COGNIA, Inc., which is an International, education evaluation agency that has morphed from the old North Central and AdVance Ed accreditation agencies. There are over 25,000, member school districts in over 90 countries that are made up of four regional accreditation regions. She served as both team member and lead evaluator on dozens of district evaluations including zoom and conference calls with Middle Eastern countries. Hired on full time in 2020 she also led in-person school district evaluations in Minot, North Dakota; Omaha, Nebraska; Lawton, Oklahoma; McGuinness High School in Oklahoma City, and just last week three districts in Atlanta, Georgia.

In the fall of 2018 Carolyn was admitted into the Doctor of Education program in School Administration at Oklahoma State University. After four years of intensive study, research, presentations, thesis construction, dissertations and a one-year delay in academic progress (COVID) she was awarded her Doctorate of Education in School Administration on August 4, 2023. The title of her thesis was: “Exploring how educators facilitate learning environments that optimize student behavior: a case study using Cultural Theory.” Along with her doctoral course work, she also completed two years of study to be awarded a degree as a Specialist in Education from OSU.

Carolyn’s family lovingly called her Mary Poppins as she was “practically perfect in every way.” Sadly, the wind has changed direction, and the umbrella opened, and away she went. Fortunately, Carolyn left us with memories galore, and our hearts filled with love for all she brought into our lives.

Carolyn is survived by her parents Susan and John Erickson of Edmond, Oklahoma, her brothers John and wife Kyli and their daughter Faith, of Edmond, Oklahoma, and Matthew and his sons Carter, Jacob, and Garrett of Oklahoma City.

She is predeceased by her grandparents Carolyn and Bill Bentley of Oklahoma City and Robert and Georgia Erickson of Roanoke, Virginia.

One of Carolyn’s favorite mottos to live by is: “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming, WOO HOO, what a ride!"

A private service was held to honor Carolyn's life.