Carolyn Szkodyn

Carolyn was born October 14, 1937 in Longview WA. She grew up in Longview and graduated from RA Long in 1955. While in high school, she met John on a blind date. He was in the Army, stationed at Fort Lewis at the time. They moved to Chicago in 1955 where they married and started their family. They lived in Chicago until 1964 when they returned to the Longview/Kelso area. They built a house in Kelso where they have lived ever since. They were married for 67 years and John survives her at home. They had five daughters-Virginia (Rich) Mahoney of Longview WA, Brenda (Gary) Smithers of Edmonds WA, Becky (Steve) Mounce of Seattle WA, Lisa (Paul) Jones of Rainier OR and Marci (Brian) McCoy of Kelso WA. Carolyn also has nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Carolyn was always a dog lover and leaves Bailey behind at home with John.

Carolyn worked as a bookkeeper and tax preparer for over 40 years, including owning her own business. Carolyn loved people and people loved her! Carolyn loved gardening and sewing. She was an avid baker and many remember her chocolate pie, spritz cookies and wild blackberry pie. Carolyn enjoyed spending time with her family and their home was often the gathering place for holidays and special events.

Carolyn’s favorite interest was traveling. She was especially proud of visiting all 50 states! She and John loved traveling in their motorhome, even driving to Alaska twice. They were avid hikers, logging 100s of miles on national park trails over the years. They especially enjoyed the parks in southern Utah and in Arizona. They made multiple hiking trips to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. They climbed Mt. St. Helens twice and hiked to Camp Muir on Mt. Rainier two times as well. Mt. Rainier National Park was a special place. Carolyn’s kids, grandkids and even great-grandkids have carried on the legacy of spending time camping and hiking at Mt. Rainier. John and Carolyn also traveled to Europe twice and took a cruise to Alaska. Carolyn also enjoyed trips to Arizona and Hawaii with her daughters in more recent years.

Carolyn had battled cancer in the last two years. She passed away peacefully at home in Kelso on January 4, 2023.