Carolyn was born on December 28, 1932, in Gooding, Idaho, to Virginia Helen Waddell and Aaron Sullivan Smith. As a young woman, she enjoyed playing basketball. She married Frank Posey while still in her freshman year of high school, and together they farmed and raised four children: Michael, Virginia, Diana, and Timothy.
When circumstances led Carolyn to make the difficult decision to leave her marriage, she moved to Oregon with her four children, where they stayed temporarily with her sister. Beginning again as a young single mother, far from the rural community and familiar life she had always known, required tremendous courage, strength, and determination. Devoted to her children and their future, Carolyn worked hard to build a new life for her family, creating a loving and stable home and opening the door to new opportunities.
Carolyn later met James R. “Jim” Steele. They married in 1967 and welcomed a daughter, Jean Marie. In 1985, Carolyn and Jim became legal guardians of their granddaughter, Aimee Schlegel, raising her in a stable and loving home. Their marriage lasted until Jim’s death on September 21, 2007. Carolyn worked as a cashier at Safeway for decades before retiring.
Carolyn enjoyed gardening, singing, walking, swimming, attending church, and gathering with her family for holidays and meals. She loved trips to the Oregon coast and visits with family in Idaho. In 2024, at age 91, she flew with Aimee to Montana so Aimee could help manage her care. In her final years, Carolyn found joy in walks, picking flowers, watching airplanes overhead, and spending time with children.
Carolyn was preceded in death by her former husband, Frank Posey; her husband, James R. Steele; her children Michael, Timothy, and Diana; and her siblings Teresa, Marilyn, Gerald, and Anita.
She is survived by her daughters Virginia and Jean; her siblings Gene, Lawrence, and Kenneth; and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.
A devoted mother, grandmother, and matriarch, Carolyn gave her family a lasting example of courage, hard work, and love. She will return to Portland to be laid to rest beside Jim at Skyline Memorial Gardens.
