I met Carol as a colleague at Luton Sixth Form College and stayed friends after I left and, later, she retired.  I remember her at work zooming through her ever-piled desk, but always having smile and a friendly word for everyone.  And the miracle was that she did these at the same time!  Her fingers wouldn't pause in typing out some ridiculous statistics required by the Dept. of Education in a particularly awkward report, while she asked about your weekend, or how your family was, or told you about her own loved family.  It was so good just to see her each day.  

I don't think there is a photo of Carol where she isn't smiling - and this is how I remember her even in her illness.  She thought of others throughout the time she was ill - asking people not to worry, not to be upset.   It was doubly hard for all who loved Carol over the last year, when visiting was off-limits.  She said she always felt blessed, but she created her own blessings, of course.  First was her family,  particularly her sustaining love of Russ.  She was so proud of Dave and Amanda:  thrilled by their successes and full of joy when they celebrated with her.   She had some wonderful times during her retirement, and it's good to look back on the photos she sent of holidays and family get-togethers - as well as the beautiful garden she created and tended with Russ.

Everyone who knew Carol knows what a very special person she was - so kind, loving, concerned, funny.  It sounds like an exxaggeration, but she seemed to have endless reservoirs of all the good that is in the world.  That makes it so much harder to lose her - my thoughts are with her loved and adored family.

Maggie Chattaway