Carol Jean (Olson) Jones 1925 - 2014

OLSON JONES

Posted By: Connie Swearingen-Volunteer (email)
Date: 4/26/2014 at 21:49:12

Mapleton Press
24 April 2014

Carol Jean (Olson) Jones passed away on March 23. She was born July 18, 1925, in Mapleton. She passed peacefully on March 23 surrounded by family at her home in Denver, Colo.

Carol is survived by her husband Clyde, son Cary (Cindy) Jones, daughters Wendy (David) Verdun, and Karen Gage, grandchildren Chris and Laura (Heinz) Jones, Alex and Taylor Verdun, and Riley and Haley Gage. She is preceded in death by her parents John and Esther Olson, her siblings Don Olson and Marge Crubaugh, and her son-in-law, Mark Gage.

Carol grew up in the small town of Mapleton where her parents met after coming to the United States from Sweden. She graduated from Iowa State University in 1949 with a degree in Recreation and was a lifelong Hawkeye fan. While in college she played flute in the marching band and spent her summers in Colorado working at the Cliff House in Manitou Springs.

After college, she moved to Colorado and was the director of Barnum Recreation Center in Denver, Colo. She met Clyde, her future husband, when they both joined the Rocky Mountain Ramblers Ski Club, and soon shared many outdoor pursuits together.

Clyde and Carol were married in 1951 and eventually had three children, Cary, Wendy and Karen, and continued to share their love of the outdoors with their family camping, hiking, skiing, kayaking, backpacking and eventually building a cabin together.

Carol was a stay at home mom during the time her children were growing up and was active in PTA. Girls Scouts, Boy Scouts and was a certified timing official for ski races and swim meets. During that time Carol also volunteered for numerous organizations. She helped organize the newly formed Colorado Open Space Council. Preservation of natural resources was always very important to her. Carol joined the Loveland Ski Patrol in 1967 and volunteered for 18 years.

As her children grew up and became more independent, she took a job with the State of Colorado as a Day Care Caseworker where she spent 16 years inspecting child care centers and camps all over Colorado. She and Clyde took the family on many wonderful road trips each summer traveling around Colorado the rest of the U.S. and Canada.

As the children got older Carol and Clyde spent more time traveling overseas, going on ski hut trips, Colorado Mountain Club trips and were members of Ports of Call travel club. Carol also enjoyed swimnastics, tap dancing, gardening and was an exuberant football fan. She joined a Swedish club where she socialized with other of Swedish heritage and attempted to learn the Swedish language. She and Clyde took a trip to Sweden to visit locations her parents had lived and were able to visit some distant relatives.

Carol volunteered for the 9 Health Fair for a least 20 years, at the Glendale Fire Department. She was a very involved Grandmother, traveling to soccer games, ski races, swim meets, dance and music recitals, graduations and other adventures. The cabin became a second home and Carol enjoyed sharing it with friends and family.

In 2010, Carol had an accident and sustained a traumatic brain injury. It changed all of their lives, but Clyde and the family rallied and Carol was able to spend her last years at home with the incredible love, support and devotion from Clyde, and with the assistance of some great caregivers, Tissy and Bethanye, who became part of the family.

Carol had a wonderful sense of humor and the family has many memories of laughing so hard with her until everyone had tears in their eyes. She lived a long and full life and we will cherish every wonderful memory of time with Carol.