Mary Carol Myers was born August 31, 1935 and grew up in Carmel, Indiana. She spent her childhood on the family farm, farming with Percheron draft horses, raising Chester White pigs, and participating in 4-H club competitions at county and state fairs. Although she spent most of her adult life in Washington State, Indiana was always "home" to Carol, and her face always lit up with delight when she told stories of her farm girl days.
After graduating from Carmel Schools in 1953, Carol went to Earlham College, earning a degree in biology in 1957. Carol met her husband Dave (John David Heywood) while they were both at Earlham. They married June 22, 1958.
Carol and Dave moved to Bellevue, Washington, in 1964 and to Kirkland, Washington, in 1970, where they raised their children -- Steve, Alan, and MaryAnne. Carol maintained her lifelong connection to horses, riding in nearby Bridle Trails State Park for over 40 years with her children and, later, grandchildren. She enjoyed downhill skiing and was a ski instructor for many years. She loved gardening, entertaining, and playing word games. She also enjoyed traveling: along with many visits home to Indiana, she and Dave visited many countries around the world together.
Carol was a life-long Quaker, first as a child at Gray Friends Church in Noblesville, Indiana, and then as a pillar of Eastside Friends Meeting in Bellevue, Washington. She served Eastside Friends in many capacities over many years, particularly in operations and finance, and was greatly valued for her level-headedness, her common sense, and her mastery of detail. She was the kind of Friend who had the entire meeting history at her fingertips; she remembered every decision and who did what, when, and why; she took actual pleasure in keeping the index of meeting minutes up to date. And she firmly believed that home-baked snacks were always a good thing.
She was a devoted and loving mother and grandmother and the "keeper of the family history." She was tremendously proud of her grandchildren's accomplishments and was an enthusiastic fan at as many of their sports events and musical performances as she could get to.
Carol's took loving care of Dave as he declined into Alzheimer's. Dave died in 2017. Carol died on April 29, 2022. She had spent that day in the garden and had dinner with one of her sons, talking about future garden work; then she went to bed and did not wake up. She leaves her three children and their spouses, and eight grandchildren.