Carol Unger, 1931 - 2003

From Jamie:

The request to write down a special memory of Aunt Carol brought an early morning of quiet reflection on a special place that now only exists in memory, the house on Grosse Ile. When Carol's father was ill we spent many days visiting with him and grandmother. It seems Aunt Carol was always there too. Our sons were five and seven and very busy little boys. We would arrive and Grandfather's "nap" was immediately terminated. Aunt Carol would quietly engage them in activity to distract them. One project they were given was to paint a stool in the basement while Carol would work fixing up the room. I lost count of the number of times that stool was painted, but to my boys it was a major contribution to the redecorating effort that Aunt Carol was working on and they were convinced that she could not do the project without them. As Mark and I would sit and quietly visit with Grandfather and Grandmother I would look out the window to see Carol at some task with both boys in tow and closely following her every direction without complaint, not a usual response I can assure you. The days we would visit and Aunt Carol was not there on Grosse Ile my boys would wander around the house like little lost puppies, her presence always brightened their days.

I don't know whatever happened to that stool in the basement on Grosse Ile, like so many things in our lives, it just seemed to have disappeared. But the memory of that stool lives on in the lives of two young men now, just as the memory of Aunt Carol lives on in the hearts of our family.

The Family of Mark Koonmen

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