Carole F. Perry

Carole Frances Winfrey was born in Kansas City, Missouri on February 21, 1934, to Ora C. "Cliff" & Georgia D. Partillo Winfrey. The family moved to Beaumont, Texas in 1940. Carole and her younger brother, Paul, grew up there, attending local schools. In 1953 the family moved to Wichita, Kansas.

She was working at a bank where she met her future husband, Lawrence G. "Rick" Rickard who was just out of the Army during the Korean War and had just started working as an insurance agent for Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co. She didn't like him at first thinking he was too cocky, but they eventually started dating. She then started working at Penn Mutual as a secretary and attended college for a year and a half.

She and Rick got married on Nov. 27, 1954, in Pittsburg, Kansas. They made their home in Wichita. They had 2 boys there, Jeff & Stuart.

Rick was doing so well at Penn Mutual that he was transferred to Salt Lake City, Utah to take over an office there overseeing the area of Utah, Idaho and Nevada. Another son, Lane, was born in Salt Lake.

Carole was a stay-at-home mom until about 1970 when she decided since her kids were in school all day, she would go back to work. She started in the accounting department of Mine Safety Appliance Co. for a few years and then moved to Ute Liner Inc., a motor home manufacturer, where she again was in the accounting department.

Ute Liner went out of business in 1974, and Carole found a new job at Wheeler Machinery, a distributor of heavy construction equipment as an accounts payable clerk.

On Aug. 7, 1975, Rick died in an auto accident late at night.

While working at Wheeler, she met Myrl E. "Mike" Perry, and they married on 16 Oct. 1976. They made their home in Salt Lake. Both Mike and Carole retired from Wheeler Machinery, and they enjoyed travelling while Mike gardened and watched football, Carole loved to shop, play Bridge and other games.

On July 30, 1990, Mike passed away after a battle with lung cancer.

Carole continued to live in their home until 2011 when Lane bought a home in Midvale to use as a base when coming to town and offered Carole the opportunity to live there as well. She wanted a change and jumped at the chance. She had an active social life while there joining bridge clubs, a book group and other social activities. Her niece, Sherri Craig, was very close to her and was very helpful during this time.

In 2022 it became apparent that she couldn't live alone any longer, so she moved to Cedarwood Retirement Independent Living where she again made friends and thrived on the many social activities and games offered and she loved to watch the Kansas City Chiefs.

In June of 2024, she was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer and given 6 months to live. She refused treatment, preferring to go out on her own terms. She signed up for hospice care through Active Hospice who were vital to her care through the many compassionate workers there who saw to all her needs.

On December 5th, her condition dictated that she should move to assisted living where she was for her last 20 days of life. Even in her debilitated state, her CNAs came to care a great deal about her. She passed away at 11:35 on December24th but due to the hospice worker arriving at 12:10 AM on Christmas, which is the day she legally died on.

She was preceded in death by her parents; brother Paul; sister Mary; husbands Rick and Mike. She is survived by sons, Jeff & Connie Rickard; Stuart Rickard; Lane and Rebecca Rickard. She had 9 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Carole will be interred with other family members at Murray City Cemetery on January 10, 2024. A family memorial and graveside service will be held through Memorial Estates in Murray, Utah.