Carolyn was born and raised, and enjoyed the majority of her 95 years of life in Evanston, Illinois. She graduated from Evanston Township High School in 1944. She started working at Illinois Bell Telephone Company as a switchboard operator and worked there until her retirement. She was an active member of the AT&T Pioneers and enjoyed life-long relationships with best friends from her years at the phone company. She spent her last few years living in Phoenix, Arizona where she relocated to be near her only daughter.
From as long as I can remember, my mother was fascinated with science fiction and tales of the Universe and space travel. The first book I remember her reading to me as a child was Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles. From the early days of the Mercury program she knew all the details of space missions and would take vacation days off work to watch the launches of Alan Shepard, John Glenn and the other American astronauts. She remained keenly interested in the Apollo project and the Space Shuttle program.
I always said about my mother that she would have been at the front of the line to volunteer for the first human team to travel to Mars, even if it was a one-way trip!
Godspeed, Mom. You are finally on your way!
