CarolionYellow Springs resident Carolion died peacefully in her home on November 18th. She was 62.
Born Caroline Elizabeth Welton April 24th, 1947 in Cambridge, MA, she was the second of four children by Jean and Theodore Welton, an acclaimed nuclear physicist. Carolion spent her childhood in Oak Ridge Tennessee where she developed her skills as a young musician and her love for animals and nature. In 1969 she graduated from Miami University with a degree in music theory and composition. After college she lived in Columbus, OH, Minneapolis, and Granite Falls, Minnesota, where in 1976 she and husband Paul Van Ausdal adopted three children from Inchon, S. Korea, and had a fourth child a year later. The family moved to Yellow Springs in 1979. Carolion resided on Spillan Road until 1996, when she moved to Portland Oregon, Texas and California. In 2004 she moved back to Yellow Springs and worked at the Yellow Springs Library until August of this year.
Carolion was a musician and music teacher, playwright and director, writer and storyteller, gardener, healer, animal communicator, reverend, wife, mother, dear friend, and reference librarian. She studied Shamanic Practice at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California and taught at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York, where she founded the Devic Garden and yearly Peace Pow Wow.
She is preceded in death by her mother, and is survived by her father, Ted Welton of Crossville, TN; two sons, Ben Van Ausdal of Fairborn, OH and Max Van Ausdal stationed at RAF Lakenheath UK; two daughers, Jessie Van Ausdal of Littleton, CO and Corrie Van Ausdal of Kansas City, KS; eight grandchildren, Katie, Conrad, Emmie, Caleb, Aryn, Gabe, Alex and Tiger; former husband Paul Van Ausdal; two brothers, Will Welton of Seattle, WA, John Welton of San Diego, CA; one sister, Mary Lou Dillon of Knoxville, TN and numerous in-laws, neices, nephews and cousins.
A memorial service will be held Friday, November 27th at the Glen Helen Building at 405 Corry Street in Yellow Springs, Ohio. In lieu of flowers, donations should be sent to the Dayton Peace Museum, the Friends Music Camp Scholarship Fund, The Glen Helen, or Hospice of Springfield, Ohio.
I will miss her beautiful smile, her spirit, here creativity, her dignity and kindness. Even though she is gone I feel much of that spirit will live on through the hearts of others.
ReplyDeletePeace
Corrine
Oh how I will miss my lovely Gather friend, Carolion. She encouraged me to spread EFT healing through Gather. Carolion saw clear to the heart of everyone with whom she connected.
ReplyDeleteI am holding her family in my heart until time passing grants them the peace of beautiful memories of Carolion the Magnificent, who now soars with the wind round about them.
Peace and Love and Light to all those who love Carolion.
She'll be greatly missed here on this earthplane, but I celebrate her continuance into greater realms. I'm betting she'll be checking in on many of you from time to time.
ReplyDeleteI send forth my unconditional love and blessings of Light to her, and to all her loved ones.
We connected on Gather.com and we connected on the telephone because we shared so many mutual interests. It's good to read about her life and I imagine her children to be blessed by having such a talented and spirit minded mother. Sending all who loved her a hug. We will miss her.
ReplyDeleteI only knew her from afar, but like those that encountered her writings on Gather.com, her words, teaching and example will always echo in me.
ReplyDeleteShalom, dear Carolion.
Such a sweet and gentle soul. Her fairytales delighted whilst delivering a wallop in their messages and we applauded in secret like giggling school children. Rest now, Carol, and we will all meet again in the by-and-by...
ReplyDeleteNamaste'
jean f.
i just love carolion, and there's a hole here that our memories with her won't even begin to fill. we first met on gather, and soon extended that to real life, as my mother-in-law lives nearby. whenever we went down to ohio to visit her, we'd fix a visit to Carolion and it would be a highlight.
ReplyDeleteshe was always so very kind and patient with lillie, our daughter - and saw in her a self and future i'd only seen a glimpse of. her healing work on myself was incredible.
but what i remember most are the quiet times with a cup of hot tea, of building fairy houses in the back yard, of talking together, of al and the hoozits, of lillie and carolion playing doctor on fingers (truly, truly funny when the index finger needs to be seen by the pinkie).
her joy and gift of life will always be with us, through her beautiful art that graces our home, her lovely music that we play, the photos of our time together, and memories of a true friend. we miss her terribly. i am so grateful for her presence in our lives. you are missed, and loved, carolion.
I well remember Carolion from our days in Minnesota Public Radio forum and later on in Gather. Her thoughts were a bit metaphysical and, in my opinion, not entirely practical in this modern world. But I know that she was sincere in her heart when she endeavored to make this a more peaceable world. I wish our paths could have crossed in real life and I'm sure my life would have been better for doing so. But, alas, it was not to be. Still, it was a good pleasure to have met her by way of the Internet.
ReplyDeleteMy very best to Carolion's family.
"luckky"
St Paul, MN