Carol Ruth DeRemer

Carol DeRemer died at her home in Broomfield, CO on Saturday, August 29, 2026, nine months after being diagnosed with glioblastoma. Carol (“Dolly” to some family and friends) was born in 1948 to Dr. Carl O. and Ruth M. Sonnemann. Carol's father, a physician, delivered her at their home in St. Joseph, Michigan. Carol had three older brothers, John, James, and Tom, and a younger brother, Paul.

Music was an important part of Carol's life from an early age. Her maternal grandfather was a versatile musician, church organist, band and choral director. Her grandfather on her father's side was a Lutheran minister with a musical bent. Carol took up the cello and excelled, taking lessons from Louis Potter at Michigan State University. In 1960, Carol purchased the cello that was the first love of her life - a 1795 creation of William Forester the Elder, noted English carver. She named her cello J. Bull. Fascinated by the workmanship of her instrument, Carol aspired to carving string instruments herself.

Carol attended Michigan State off and on for three years, eventually dropping out three credits short of graduation in protest of the necessity of a college degree. For two summers during this time, she worked at Glacier National Park making beds by day, playing in various musical productions in the evenings, and going on long hikes whenever she found the time. This experience left her with treasured memories and friends to last her lifetime.

After college, Carol was hired by Sears Roebuck at their offices in Chicago. She was part of a three person office newly created to set up and run distribution centers for goods imported by Sears. Carol soon made herself indispensable, and in time was promoted to an executive position. Carol was among the first wave of Sears employees to move offices into the newly constructed Sears Tower.

Sears, however, was not intended as a career - Carol planned to work there only long enough to afford attending violin-making school in Germany. But then Carol met Richard (Dick) DeRemer in the fall of 1971, when he had just started graduate school at the University of Chicago. Mutual friends wanted to learn to play bridge, and Carol and Dick were the only players they knew. Dick asked her on a date before the first lesson was over. They married September 9, 1972 on a bluff in Winona, Minnesota, and took up residence in graduate student housing at U of C. Altogether, Carol supported them through three years of graduate school and three years of law school.

Dick and Carol moved to Oak Park, Illinois in 1979, Carol pregnant with their first child. They lived in Oak Park for the next 23 years, where they raised their three children - Lindsay, Erin, and Elliott. Carol played cello in the Oak Park Symphony, served as the business manager of the Oak Park River Forest Children's Chorus, was active in the PTA, and pitched for a team of moms (“The Old Bats”) in a local softball league. With all this, she managed to master the art of making beautiful pottery and later, a dream long deferred, to attend the Chicago School of Violin Making. Her attention to detail and meticulous craftsmanship found expression in the creation of beautiful instruments. It was always her dream to make an exact copy of her beloved J. Bull, a project that continues in the hands of her fellow students and craftsmen. Carol loved playing cards and board games, doing puzzles, and traveling the world.

In 2019, just in time for Covid, Carol and Dick moved to Colorado to be near their granddaughter. There, Carol again took to the game of bridge with a passion. She very much enjoyed making new friends and being close to family.

Carol was preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by her husband, Richard, and their children, Lindsay Keeney (Brian), Erin DeRemer, and Elliott DeRemer (Susan); her granddaughter Arizona Keeney; and her four brothers.

No memorial service is planned at this time.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.howemortuary.com for the DeRemer family.