7/18/1937 – 8/14/2024
Kingman, AZ
Carol Blashfield (Frey) Rawlins went to discover all the “woo woo” world has in store for her on August 14, 2024. Carol was born in Madison, Wisconsin, a Blashfield on July 18, 1937, to a mechanical genius (Floyd) and a caring, yet enigmatic nurse (Cecil Mauldin). She was in between two sisters Elizabeth (Betty) and Jean. She attended public schools in Illinois and graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a degree in English. As a Junior at Ohio Wesleyan, she went on a Semester in Washington in DC through American University. At a Senate hearing she was jockeying for a seat in the back when Senator Kennedy took her by the arm and ushered her to the front. After university, she went on to teach English, history, and social studies at Evanston Township High School in Illinois. In high school she met her first husband Don Frey, and he attended Denison College near OWU. He and his fraternity brothers bestowed upon her the honor of ”Root Beer Buddy.” She and Don married in Evanston, IL and moved to Topeka, KS. In Topeka she raised a daughter, Carol (Frey) Williams (Kingman, AZ), and son Bruce Frey (Lawrence, KS) and numerous foster children. Many of the foster children were babies and African American. She endured insults for having a Black baby with her when she went to the grocery store or around town. In the late 1970s, early ‘80’s she attended graduate school at the University of Kansas in public administration while she worked for the State of Kansas researching and writing position descriptions for State jobs. Her and her daughter-in-law agreed as to the fine teaching in public administration by KU’s Prof. John Nalbandian. Don and Carol divorced in 1978.
Carol met her second husband Wendell (Wendy) Rawlins (8/18/1929 – 6/22/2024) and they married in 1986. He longed to go back to his home state of California and Carol decided it was time for an adventure so they up and moved to the San Diego area. They put all their whittled down belongings in a trailer and set off. Halfway there, the trailer was dragging and Carol cried by the side of the road where she decided which books would have to be left behind to get the trailer up and rolling again. Wendy was a devout humanist, engineer and Carol was a devout spiritual being. They got their “wiggles” out and the marriage “took” thanks to their open minds and hearts. They found an amazing home and second family at Summit Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Santee, CA.
She was a writer. Professionally, she authored books: The Orinoco River, The Colorado River, The Grand Canyon (Wonders of the World), and The Seine River for young people. Here is a reader review of the Colorado book, “The point of the book is the whole river and the author does a nice job of introducing all of the rivers components. But the best chapter is five, the people of the Colorado Basin. It starts not with Euro-man but with the Anasazi.” Regularly, she wrote “Hi Dears” letters which she mailed and later emailed to friends, relatives, and people who requested them. They were full of her true to life stories (a young Mary and Joseph family around Christmas, riding the BART to and from federal court for jury duty on a complex pharmaceutical case, feeding the Scrub Jays peanuts in the shell, the children walking to school past their house, her kundalini awakening, and Carrie’s children (her grandchildren) Christopher and Cory), and observations about life, living, and the spiritual world.
Carol and Wendy were “water people,” which means they were fascinated with all the Earth’s rivers. They planned their vacations around rivers because they enjoyed following them and documenting what they saw along the way. Carol was born by the Yahara River, lived much of her life by the Kansas River, and died near her beloved Colorado River. May the rivers and Carol run free finding their ways back to the source.
Note: We are offering Lawrence and Douglas County community members space to publish remembrances of loved ones who lived in this community, free of charge. These pieces are submitted by family and friends of the deceased and not written by our staff.
We are glad to be able to offer this service free to community members in mourning. We believe the last thing our neighbors need in those difficult moments is another financial matter to worry about. Please consider a paid subscription to the Times to help us continue providing this service and news access for all.
To submit an obituary to The Lawrence Times, please fill out the form at this link. We’re sorry, but we cannot accept obituary submissions via email or other means.
If you are interested in sponsoring obituaries on our site through advertising, please email us at ads (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com.
Read other obituaries here.
