Carolyn Shirley Wimberly

Following a brief illness, Carolyn Shirley Wimberly passed away on Saturday, the 13th of June 2026, surrounded by family at her home in Houston. True to a prediction she made over a decade ago, she was 86 years old when her heavenly father called her home. Her beauty, optimism, strength, grace, sense of humor and opinion will be missed by all who knew her.

Carolyn was born in Austin on the 8th of June 1940, to Elizabeth Hodgson and Robert Preston Shirley.

She considered herself incredibly blessed and described herself as being held in the palm of God’s hand her entire life. After early years living in Austin and Fort Worth, Carolyn spent her formative years growing up in Galveston. The middle child of three girls, Carolyn was highly intelligent and beautiful in a very unassuming way. She never met a stranger, and she had a gift of making others feel important and welcome in her life. Carolyn was both salutatorian (after intentionally making one bad grade because being valedictorian was not cool) and homecoming queen of Ball High. She spent her freshman year of college at Agnes Scott College (as mandated by her parents) and then transferred to the University of Texas at Austin in 1959. While at UT, Carolyn was a member and officer of Pi Beta Phi sorority and made enduring friendships that she cherished to the very end of her life.

Carolyn met the love of her life on a blind date during her senior year at UT. She and Bryan Holland Wimberly of Houston married in June of 1963. Except for a brief period in Philadelphia while Bryan finished his MBA, they lived all of their married life in Houston. Carolyn taught junior high English until starting motherhood, then focused her time on raising a family and volunteering. She often joked that if you needed to find her, she would be somewhere on San Felipe. Between school carpools and endless sporting events (all of which she attended) for her three daughters, as well as her time spent serving on the Mother’s Guild of St. John’s School, it was a well-worn path for her.

Although married to an avid golfer, Carolyn did not pick up the game until her daughters graduated from high school. She won the first tournament she entered, made a hole in one in her first year, and proceeded to enjoy playing almost as much as her husband did. Carolyn was a member and past President of the Women’s Golf Association at Houston Country Club, and she and Bryan spent many weekends at their home in Lakeway playing golf and enjoying the occasional boat ride. Carolyn also loved to travel and had many wonderful adventures all over the world with both family and friends. She and Bryan enjoyed collecting art, especially Southwestern art found in travels through New Mexico, Colorado and Texas.

Carolyn felt greatly enriched by the experiences had and the friendships made through her volunteer work. She was a natural leader, holding officer positions in almost every organization she joined, and serving as President or Chairman of most of them as well. While raising teenage daughters, Carolyn served as President of Junior League of Houston, which necessitated an extra phone line at home, a rare and coveted thing in those days. A keen gardener, over the years Carolyn served as President of River Oaks Garden Club and Post Oak Garden Club, Co-Chairman of the Garden Club of America’s Florescence flower show and Chairman of Bayou Bend Gardens Endowment, and was a member of the Flower Guild of The Church of St. John the Divine. Carolyn also devoted much of her time and resources to causes related to Alzheimer’s disease, including being a founding officer and President of AWARE (Alzheimer’s Womens Auxilliary for Research and Education).

Two years after Bryan’s death, Carolyn sold her house and joined a migration of her friends to The Tradition on Woodway. Although downsizing quite a bit, Carolyn insisted on taking her dining room furniture and forty-two paintings with her. Perched in her beautiful apartment in the sky, she happily spent the last five years of her life with both lifelong and new friends, leaving her door open for visitors, watching her beloved Astros and Longhorns, playing bridge and hosting an occasional dinner or Superbowl party. She would also begrudgingly play Mahjong with her daughters, exclaiming that she did not understand the game and then winning anyway.

Carolyn was preceded in death by her husband, Bryan Holland Wimberly; parents, Elizabeth Hodgson and Robert Preston Shirley; sister and brother-in-law, Susan Shirley and John Edward Eckel, Jr.; brother-in-law, Lane Mayfield Wimberly; and nieces, Elizabeth Anne Eckel and Melissa Anne Wimberly.

She is survived by her three daughters and their families: Sarah and Robert Ray, Preston and Harrison (Tate) Ray; Anne and John Jakiemiec, Bryan (Kiana), Natalie and Kyle Jakiemiec; Edith and Walt Parmer, and Grace and Carolyn Parmer. She is also survived by her sister, Sarah Shirley (Cary White) and family; nephews, Preston (Melissa) and Hodgson (Laura) Eckel and families; brother-in-law, Thomas Allen Wimberly (Marybeth) and family; and sister-in-law, Nancy Ledbetter Wimberly and family.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from four o’clock in the afternoon until six o’clock in the evening on Monday, the 22nd of June, in the library and grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

A memorial service is to be conducted at three o’clock in the afternoon on Tuesday, the 23rd of June, at The Church of St. John the Divine, 2450 River Oaks Boulevard in Houston, where the Rev. Dr. Douglas W. Richnow is to officiate.

Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception to be held at a venue announced during the service.

Prior to the service, the family will have gathered for a private interment at Glenwood Cemetery in Houston.

In lieu of customary remembrances, those desiring to remember Carolyn with memorial contributions may direct them to one of the following charities or to a charity of one’s choice: Alzheimer’s Association Houston & Southeast Texas Chapter, 6005 South Loop East, Houston, TX 77087, or Bayou Bend Gardens Endowment, 2503 Westheimer Road, Houston, TX 77098-1321.

We invite you to take a few moments to share fond memories and words of comfort and condolence with her family by selecting the “Add a Memory” icon.

Psalm 118:24 This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.