OBITUARY

Carole Ann Boddie Harrington

May 27, 1941 – April 8, 2025

She read voraciously, could knit in the dark of a movie theater, never refused chocolate, and was a natural born teacher—even long after retirement.

Carole Ann Boddie Harrington was born May 27, 1941, and though she came of age in a very different world, she charted her own course—with purpose, humor, and a whole lot of yarn. And brownies. And coffee.

Growing up the youngest of three girls in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Oklahoma City, she formed enduring bonds with her Brownie troupe that lasted generations, and anyone who knew Carole heard some tale of the Brownies at some point. As a child she (and several Brownies) spent summers at Camp Nakanawa in Tennessee where she got to ride horses and swim in the lake (which was probably the last time she allowed her hair to get wet other than in a beauty salon).

Her parents, Melville Franklin Boddie and Myra Day Boddie, both highly valued education, which Carole not only embraced but passed forward to others. After graduating from Harding High School, she attended the University of Oklahoma where she was a proud member of the Chi Omega (Epsilon Alpha) sorority, continuing the legacy of her mother, aunt, and two older sisters.

Carole earned not only a degree in Elementary Education from OU, but was trained in orthoptics at Johns Hopkins, moving to Tulsa and opening an orthoptics clinic after graduation. She married Stewart Albert Pearce, II, and had a daughter. After the marriage ended, she moved back to Oklahoma City where she continued to practice orthoptics before becoming an elementary school teacher. She remarried and had her beloved son. Much later in life she returned to the University of Central Oklahoma to earn a Master’s in Special Education.

Students from Belle Isle Elementary School, Casady School and Edmond North High School can remember “Mrs. Harrington” giving them an assignment to do in class and then walking around the classroom with her knitting bag slung over a forearm, clacking her needles whilst leaning over the shoulders of her pupils to check their work. Her third grade English students at Casady and later her Special Education kids at Edmond North High School marveled at her abilities to walk and knit. (She would take her knitting to the movies…she could knit anywhere.)

After her “formal” retirement, unable to quiet her inner teacher, she tutored elementary students in all subjects from Westminster, Casady and Heritage Hall schools. Still knitting. But bonus – she tutored from home where her friendly cat could jump up onto a table or a lap, delighting both her and her current student.

Carole truly embraced the motto “Life is uncertain, eat dessert first.” She offered to host family Thanksgiving dinner one year, and her sister called to ask what Carole was serving, which she enumerated: turkey, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate mousse, and cherry dessert. “Carole!” her sister exclaimed, “you cannot have a turkey and four desserts at Thanksgiving!!” Mom never could figure out why not.

She loved to be involved in her community and was generous with her time and resources. Carole was involved in many activities including Bible Study Fellowship, O-Kee-Pa Book Club, “Thursday” Book Club, and Esther Women. Through Catholic Charities, she mobilized her friends and marshaled every resource at her disposal to sponsor and assist a family of Cambodian refugees fleeing the Khmer Rouge to find their footing in Oklahoma City. She assisted the mother and her four sons with securing housing, schooling, and jobs, and they became an integral part of Carole’s life and that of her own family. She also served on the Alter Guild at All Souls Episcopal Church and happily volunteered for “Hotdogs for the Homeless” where she collected and then personally delivered donated clothing and toiletry items to unhomed individuals in downtown Oklahoma City. Every week.

Carole was also an unwitting engineer. A co-leader of her daughter’s Bluebird Troupe, she could fit the entire gaggle of twelve Bluebirds in the backseat of her pea-green Cadillac land barge for the pilgrimage to Camp Dakani. Cheerfully driving the carpool, she instructed the girls to sit on the bench backseat – “Okay, my baby birds, stagger those little fannies - one bottom forward, one bottom back!” The Bluebirds would squabble about who got to sit in the front seat and pat the dashboard along with Mrs. Harrington, chirping and cheering “Go, Green Machine, GO!”

She loved travel, flowers, cardinals, and the color red. She visited many European countries and adored the tulips in Holland, the cathedrals in Italy, and anything remotely involved with the British royal family. Carole will be fondly remembered for her packing style – loading her bags with her “old, worn-out knickers” and clothes she no longer wanted, which she would wear on vacation and discard in the hotel trashcan to “leave plenty of room in the suitcase for new things to buy on vacation!” (It’s actually an excellent travel tip.)

For years after her retirement from teaching she could be found drinking a cup of coffee at Starbucks, reading a book and collecting new friends. When her local Starbucks became

inconvenient, she set up camp at Full Circle Book Store and was such a loyal customer there that they permanently reserved a table for her.

Carole was a wonderful mother and loyal friend. She was preceded in death by her mother, father and two older sisters, Shirley Boddie Royer of Florida and Louise Cutshaw of Atlanta. She is survived by her two children, Katie (Pearce Harrington) Kimberling (whom she actually called “Marie”) currently residing in Norman, Oklahoma, and John C. Harrington, III (aka “Bear”), in Oklahoma City. Big on nicknames, she was.

A memorial service in her honor will be held at All Souls Episcopal Church on May 5th at 11:00 am. A reception with coffee, brownies and music from her favorite band, the Bee Gees, will follow.

Hahn-Cook/Street & Draper Funeral Directors