Carolyn Catherine Wilson Hurley died from sudden respiratory failure after a bout of pneumonia on February 24, 2026, at the Towne House Retirement Community in Ft. Wayne. Her son Rich had just spent a good day and early evening with her at Towne House.

Carolyn was born in Milton, MA, on February 8, 1940, the youngest daughter of Isabelle Durland Wilson and Peter A. "Al" Wilson. A child of the seaside, Carolyn grew up in the Boston area and Cape Cod. Her first years were shared with her sister Jean, ten years older, and her brother Bob, six years older in Dorchester and Milton. A sister Charlotte died in infancy before Carolyn's birth. Jean married in 1948 and Bob joined the marines in 1952 leaving Carolyn an only child from the age of 12 onward. In 1950 Al and Isabelle purchased a Bed & Breakfast in Hyannis, moving there to make a go of it. In 1951 they returned to the Boston suburb of Canton and then to a house on Neponset Street in Norwood. After graduating Canton High School in 1957, Carolyn attended Boston Teachers College from which she graduated in 1961.

In the summer of 1960 Carolyn worked as Miss Coca Cola at Hampton Beach, NH, leading calisthenics for beach goers for 15 minutes each hour for which she was paid $15 a session. Also in 1960, Carolyn visited Notre Dame University in South Bend, IN, with a college friend whose fiancé was a student there. On this visit she was introduced to and fell in love with Richard "Dick" Hurley, a graduate student in Biology. She visited Dick again the following year while he conducted field studies on spruce-fir forests in the Catskill Mountains of NY. In 1961 Dick and Carolyn were married at the Notre Dame chapel. They honeymooned at Niagara Falls. After the birth of their first child Rich in 1962, Dick and Carolyn moved to Ft. Wayne where Dick would teach biology at St. Francis College for the next 52 years. Carolyn had three more children, Janet in 1963, Peter in 1964, and Tricia in 1965.

Carolyn was an enthusiastic participant in life (whereas Dick was a homebody). Her childhood along the seaside and on Cape Cod instilled in her a love of the natural world that she and Dick passed on to their children. She loved traveling and was the force behind countless family camping trips in Indiana, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Idaho. On one trip to Brewster State Park on Cape Cod, an aluminum tent pole broke while she and the kids were setting up in the rain at the campground (Dick stayed home in Ft. Wayne). Carolyn was able to find a repair from a local junk dealer who slipped a pipe snugly over the broken pole. The tent gave many more years of service to the family after that fix, including a memorable trip to the Tetons with children Peter and Tricia and friend Ginger Burgess. Carolyn allowed the kids a freedom to roam, which felt magical to them and their encounters with birds there proved to be the impetus for Tricia's lifelong fascination with birds.

In the 1960s through the 1980s Carolyn taught in the Fort Wayne Community Schools, Allen County (IN) school systems, and Pocatello (ID) Public Schools focusing on elementary reading and art. She secured a masters degree in education with a reading specialist focus in 1973 from St. Francis College. In the 1990s however, Carolyn found her true calling as an antiques dealer focused on American glassware and ephemera. Her business was called Carolyn's Eclectics and she maintained multiple booths at various antique malls throughout northeastern Indiana until just a few years ago. She had large collections of Niagara Falls and Cape Cod mementos when the family helped to liquidate her inventory two years ago among many other collectibles.

Carolyn was a free spirit refusing to be defined by others. In the 1970s Carolyn served as a Girl Scouts leader for her daughter Janet's troop. When the Girl Scouts of America decided Carolyn was just a little too avant guard and dismissed her, Carolyn continued leading the troop independently in arts, crafts, and other pursuits, featuring an unforgettable Halloween celebration at the family's Crescent Avenue home in 1975.

Carolyn was very social and like her mother Isabelle loved talking to all sorts of people. She was an active member of the Embroiderers Guild of America and of the American Association of University Women, especially for the AAUW annual book sale. She was a member of the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America, an independent progressive denomination in Ft. Wayne.

Since the 1990s Carolyn and Dick gathered weekly on Fridays with friends over dinner calling themselves the POETS (Piss on Everything Tomorrow is Saturday). The POETS were steadfast friends and loyal supporters during the last years of Dick's life. Carolyn's passing was unexpected and shocking to the POETS and the family, as she maintained her exuberance for life until her last day.

In the early 2010s Carolyn and Dick made annual trips to Cape Cod in the summer, meeting up with daughter Janet and her family in Vermont on the way, and meeting up with Tricia's family, as well as her sister Jean, sister-in-law Jan, and nieces Judy, Janet, and Lauren and nephews David and Chuck and their families.

In 2018 Dick and Carolyn bought the house next to their daughter Tricia's house in Silver City, NM, where they planned to spend the winter months. Their first trip in 2019 ended up lasting over a year due to the 2020 pandemic. While there they made two special trips with Tricia's family and Peter to the nearby Chiricahua Mountains staying in old stone ranches. Those would be their last trips with such rustic accommodations. Carolyn's last trip to Silver City was in December with Peter accompanying her there and Tricia accompanying her back to Ft. Wayne in January.

Carolyn was predeceased by her parents, her brother Bob, her nephew Chuck, and most recently her husband Dick in November, and her sister Jean in January. She is survived by her four children, Rich of Ft. Wayne, Janet (Lesley) of Manchester, VT, Peter and Tricia (Mark) of Silver City, NM, and three grandchildren, Tylan and Anna Cantrell of Silver City and Holden Brodie of Manchester.

A memorial service will be held at 4:00pm, Saturday, March 7, 2026, at St. Mary Magdala Spiritual Center in Ft. Wayne, with visitation from 2-4pm  Remote participation for friends and family via zoom will be available. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the AAUW Scholarship Fund.

Donations can be mailed to AAUW Branch Treasurer, Cathy Huff, at 4329 North Drive, Fort Wayne, IN 46815.

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https://aauwfortwayne.org/online-payments/

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