The second oldest in a family of five, Carolyn was born on a U.S. Airforce base to Jean Laney in Zaragosa, Spain on March 24, 1959. The family soon moved to Rhodhiss, NC, where Carolyn grew up in a small mill house on the banks of the Catawba River. A member of the last graduating class of Granite Falls High School in 1977, Carolyn was known as a school bus driver and an enthusiastic snare drummer for her school band.
To her father Frank’s delight, Carolyn went on to be the first member of her family to attend and graduate college. A proud Catamount at Western Carolina University, she majored in Medical Technology. Though her biology-intensive curriculum kept her in a laboratory most of the time, Carolyn could also be found attending history lectures during her few free hours and partying with her friends Julie, Tamara, Paula, Sandy, Gerri Ann, and Annette on weekends.
After graduating college in 1981, Carolyn moved to Charleston, SC and enjoyed life on the coast, inspiring a life-long affinity for both the ocean and the Holy City’s history and architecture. She later met her husband, Stephen Downing, through mutual friends in 1987.
Carolyn and Steve married in Rhodhiss, NC in the fall of 1990. The couple first lived in Kingsville, TX where Marine Corps pilot Steve was stationed. Two years later, they welcomed their daughter, Sara, to the world and moved to Hudson, NC to be closer to Carolyn’s family.
Working as a medical technologist in hospital laboratories, Carolyn was a devoted public servant with a passion for helping people. Over the next 30 years, she managed a variety of laboratory departments in both Caldwell Memorial Hospital and Frye Regional Medical Center. At Frye, she served as the head of the laboratory’s Chemistry Department for nearly a decade. Carolyn also built a strong work family in her places of employment. An avid walker and jazzercize enthusiast, she was notorious for badgering her colleagues to go on lunchtime walks with her or, in a few cases, to train for and travel to 5k and 10k races around the southeast.
Though Carolyn was a self-proclaimed workaholic, her real passion was her family. Carolyn consistently volunteered to host Thanksgiving and Christmas for her siblings and their families to ensure her family remained connected. She was an adoring and devoted mother to her daughter Sara, always going the extra mile to provide Sara with an endless amount of books and a listening ear. Carolyn was always present in the audience at Sara’s clogging competitions and band concerts. As her stepdaughters (whom she referred to as “bonus” daughters), Heather and Lindsay, welcomed children into their lives, she became a doting grandmother. She travelled often to take her grandkids on day trips and babysat at every opportunity.
Carolyn and Steve loved to travel. She and her husband made it a point to take their daughter and several nieces and nephews on trips around the state and in two instances, on cross-country trips to Hawaii and Florida. She travelled annually to Oregon to connect with Steve’s family. Throughout her life, she also pursued a wide variety of cruises in Alaska, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Germany, and Russia.
In retirement, Carolyn became a student of ballroom dance. As her love for the hobby expanded, she began competing and won several awards as a novice dancer in both regional and national circuits. Toward the end of her life, her family helped move her to a memory care facility in Greensboro, NC to be closer to her eldest bonus daughter, Heather, who stewarded her care.
She is survived by her husband Steve, daughters Sara, Heather, and Lindsay, six wonderful and spunky grandchildren, her mother Jeanie, her two sisters Darlene and Kendra, and a large chosen family who all miss her dearly and count themselves uncommonly lucky to have been part of her story.
Carolyn’s Celebration of Life will be held at Center Grove Baptist Church in Hudson, NC from 10:00 to 12:00 on August 22, 2026. All are welcome to attend. Please wear smart casual clothing (church attire).
