Carol Jeanette Pickrel

Carol was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1924. She was the youngest child of three, her family consisting of her parents, William and Florence Yates, her brother, Jack and her sister, Geraldine. Being born three days after Christmas, she was named Carol and would from then on be the family’s Christmas Carol. After living in Nebraska for some years, the family moved to Denver where, while selling her car, Carol soon met the love of her life, a young man named Harold Pickrel. The two love birds soon married and began making their life together. Two years later, their first child was born, a baby girl named Jorganne. The little family continued to thrive and four years later, a baby boy named Scott joined them. The family was now complete.

Carol’s family was very lucky indeed. She devoted every day of her life to loving, and nurturing them. Though she worked 40 + hours per week building and maintaining a successful business her prime consideration was always to provide a comfortable, loving home for her husband and children. Carol and Harold were married for 64 years and together they nurtured their children into happy, responsible adults with families of their own. Her beloved granddaughter, Lauren, is expecting a baby in December and she would have been thrilled to welcome her first great grandchild into the family.

The love that bubbled forth from Carol extended past those in her immediate family to all others she knew. She was never too tired to listen and help resolve a problem or to help out in whatever way she could. She loved all children and babies often stopping in the grocery store to smile and marvel with young parents over the preciousness of their little ones.

Carol was multidimensional. In addition to her love for all people, she loved many other things, among them music. Though a quiet and basically bashful young girl, she could push out a toe tapping version of Roll out the Barrel or a heady version of the Hungarian Rhapsody on her prized piano accordion.

She also loved to dance. When she was young, she would go to musicals which featured dancing, seeing them over and over again while rehearsing in between until she could perform the dance numbers as they were in the movies. Tapping was one of her favorite styles of dance which she used throughout her life to enhance life’s situations by inserting a buck and wing or a shuffle off the buffalo for the enjoyment of those around her.

Humor was another aspect of Carol’s personality. Her positive, bubbly outlook and comedic nature helped to lighten difficult times for all who knew her. She loved a good joke and was known to tell a few risqué jokes of her own always blushing at the punch line.

Carol Pickrel was a mother, a wife, and a friend to all. She brightened all of our lives with her ever present smile, inner warmth and caring nature. Though we will miss her, the memories that she has left us will continue to brighten all of our days.

Arrangements under the direction of Olinger Chapel Hill Mortuary & Cemetery, Centennial, Colorado.