Carol Ann Wiederhold's Obituary
Carol Ann Wiederhold, 92, of Richardson Texas passed away on January 12th 2024. Carol was born February 20, 1931 in Dallas, Texas to James and Treva Witherspoon. The oldest of four daughters, she is preceded in death by her parents, younger sisters, Jeanne Wells and Linda Dickenson, and her eldest daughter Ann Moore.
She is survived by her loving husband of 72 years, Ray Wiederhold, daughter Lynn Lovett and her husband Gary, their three children, Alicia, Michael and Rachel, along with her other grandchildren, Matthew Moore and his wife Stephanie, Patrick Moore and his wife Sarah and great grandchildren, Preston, Ava, Brooke, Sutton, twins Noah and Harper and Emersyn.
She is also survived by her younger sister, Mary, and numerous cousins, nephews, nieces and their families.
Carol graduated in 1948 from Sunset High School in Dallas, Texas. She was a Camp Fire Girl and worked summers as a counselor at Camp Ellowi in Cedar Hill Texas. After high school graduation, Carol attended Arlington State College, (now The University of Texas at Arlington), and got her associates degree in 1950. There she belonged to the Zangola Club and was a member of Nu Phi Mu.
She met Ray April 9th, 1951 on a blind date while double dating with her college roommate and Ray's best friend. Ray proposed in June of 1951 at her young age of 20 and he of 21. They married after a short engagement in Dallas, Texas on July 21, 1951 because Ray was being sent to South Carolina with the Air Force Reserves and they both knew they wanted to stay together forever.
They returned to Dallas Texas in 1952 and made their home there. Carol worked at the telephone company that would later become Southwestern Bell Telephone. She was also a long time member of Christ United Methodist Church in Plano Texas.
Carol loved to travel. She spent many nights in tents and later a trailer. She visited Colorado many times, also, Arizona, California, Florida, Canada, Nevada, New Mexico, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Hawaii. She and Ray spent many weekends at their lake house near Tyler Texas. Two of her favorite vacations were cruising and Disney World. She cruised Alaska, Panama Canal, Hawaii and many trips in the Caribbean.
One time, when she went on a cruise with Lynn and her family and Ann's two sons, no one could find her right after we got on the ship. We all said lets go look in the casino. And that's where we found her, at the nickel slot machines! She never gambled big, just the nickel slots but occasionally she did risk the quarter slots. She loved to pull that handle, watch all the lights and bells, and if lucky, watch all the coins come crashing down when she won.
She and Ray spent many hours volunteering at the Museum of Natural History at Fair Park. There they carefully worked on many pieces of rocks to find fossils of sea life. She also went digging for shark teeth in Cedar Hill.
She loved being outdoors and working in her flower beds and helping Ray with the garden. She was an avid animal lover and owned a pony growing up and many dogs along the way. She especially enjoyed watching the birds build nests in her pots on the patio. She planted flowers that would attract hummingbirds and butterflies. She loved to help hatch butterflies from cocoons and feed them her dill she had grown. If she no longer had dill in her garden, she would get organic dill from the store which became quite expensive. She helped hatch swallowtails and Monarchs and then released them and watched them go free. One year she helped 28 swallowtails grow from a cocoon to a beautiful butterfly.
Carol loved fast food, especially crispy tacos from Taco Bell and hamburgers from Country Burger. She could eat her weight in shrimp cocktail. Dr. Pepper was her drink of choice and eventually it became caffeine free diet Dr. Pepper, if you could find it. She liked painting rocks, doing crafts, reading books, solving crossword puzzles, making pickles, and tomato relish with a recipe passed down from her mom.
Carol gave birth to Ann in 1954 and then moved to Richardson Texas in 1956. Ann was later joined by younger sister Lynn in 1957. She later enjoyed three grandsons and two granddaughters. Carol and Ray spent many hours watching soccer, football, baseball, volleyball, golf games, and dance performances.
She then became a great grandmother of seven. She loved her family and got together as often as she could.
If it is your wish, the family suggests memorial donations, in Carol's name, to either:
Save Our Monarchs Foundation PO Box 390135 Minneapolis, MN 55439 www.saveourmonarchs.org
or
Operation Kindness 3201 Earhart Dr. Carrollton TX 75006 www.operationkindness.org
What’s your fondest memory of Carol?
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Share a story where Carol's kindness touched your heart.
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