Carolyn and her husband John were both big sports fans. In fact, for their first time going to a game together, they attended a University of Michigan football game.

“I warned him beforehand I might wear green and white,” said Carolyn, who attended Michigan State University.

As it turns out, there are still many colors that run through their family, be it the green and white of the Spartans, the maize and blue of the Wolverines and even the scarlet and gray of Ohio State. But the important thing is the education.

“We’re kind of a mixture, that’s for sure,” she said.

Meeting her husband at General Motors

Carolyn was studying education when she was at MSU, but wound up in a different kind of classroom — she worked for General Motors in the education training department. She met her husband at GM, as he worked across the hall from her office.

Although Carolyn did not end up teaching in a school, she was inspired to get into education by her mother.

“She was a teacher way back when, and taught in schools in this area,” Carolyn said. “She taught before she was married. And in the war years, they were short of teachers, so they talked her into going back and did that for two or three years.”

Carolyn attended school in Pontiac, which often had a different schedule of vacation days than the schools where her mother worked. As a result, there were times when Carolyn joined her mom.

“Sometimes, I would go with her to wherever she was teaching. Education was always there for me,” she said.

A busy family life

Carolyn and her husband John had two kids, a boy and a girl, and both were active in sports.

“My husband said he got Wednesday off for good behavior,” she joked. “He used to come from work to watch their games, but neither one of them had games on Wednesday.”

Later, Carolyn and John both became intrigued in the genealogy of their families. “You can do a lot of it online now, which is nice,” she said. “But when we started 30 years ago, if you found out somebody was from New York, we would first call the county to see if the records were available, then plan on making a little weekend trip.”

With her mother being orphaned at a young age, Carolyn decided it would be a good idea to learn more about her family.

“We found a lot of things,” she said. “I put a lot of it on computers, and with the programs you have now, you can put the pictures in with the write-ups. So I’ve been going back and doing that lately. It takes a lot of time, but I really enjoy it. I like the computer, I do a lot of things on it.”

John died a few years ago, shortly before their 50th anniversary. Still, Carolyn keeps track of her family online, checking the happenings of family in California on Facebook.

A resident of Oakmont Rochester since April, she enjoys her new home.

“It’s very nice here, the people here are excellent,” Carolyn said. “And we’re growing.”