Carolyn (Curtis) Sloan 1927 - 2017

CURTIS, SLOAN

Posted By: Connie Swearingen- Volunteer (email)
Date: 4/12/2017 at 13:19:29

Sioux City Journal
23 March 2017

SIOUX CITY | Carolyn (Curtis) Sloan, third generation Sioux Cityan, succumbed to pneumonia on March 10, 2017, in Redwood City, Calif., two weeks after celebrating her 90th birthday.

Graveside services will be held at a later date in Logan Park Cemetery, Sioux City.

Born to Irene and Randall Curtis on Feb. 24, 1927, Carolyn and her sister, Ida Lou, were raised by their mother after their father died in 1929. An avid and curious student, Carolyn excelled in school. A graduate of Central High, she headed to Mt. Holyoke College in Massachusetts, and then University of Minnesota for graduate work in education.

During a summer holiday, while student teaching at a Quaker school in Rhode Island, Carolyn had a drop by visit from fellow Sioux Cityan, Norman Sloan, who was two years ahead of her at Central. When Norman dropped by a second time, Carolyn recalled, she knew something was up. The two were married in June 1952. Three sons followed, Curtis in 1953, Calvin in 1956, and Daniel in 1959.

While raising their family, Carolyn devoted time to the local schools, Norm's career at First Federal Savings & Loan, and local arts organizations. She architected the idyllic childhoods her boys remember--roaming the (then undeveloped) hills around Lindenwood Street, swimming at the Boat Club, and spending many golden Sunday afternoons on the family sailboat at Lake Lewis & Clark. As the boys left for college, Carolyn pursued the causes that animated her life: literacy, education, politics, and women's rights.

Bright, well-read, and articulate, she was a feminist before her time, volunteering for the Iowa chapter of Planned Parenthood and the United Way, serving as trustee of Morningside College, volunteering for the ethics committee of the Iowa State Bar Association, and working at The Book People, an independent bookstore. Carolyn may have never had a daughter, but she became a role model to her daughters-in-law.

Carolyn lived the last several years of her life in California, near her son, Cal and his family. As her abilities dimmed, she looked forward to reuniting with loved ones who have gone before her husband of 57 years, Norm; her father, Randall; her mother, Irene; her sister, Ida Lou; her son, Curt; her grandson, Carson; and many other loved ones who created the fabric of her life and whom she has missed terribly.

Those still here to bear witness to her long and meaningful life include sons, Cal and Dan; her daughters-in-law, Liz and Helen; her grandchildren, Roz, Jack, Cooper, Brian and Jeff; her sister in-law, Trish, and many other extended family and friends.