November 19, 1940 - November 10, 2019
Carolyn was born in San Diego, California, the first child of James Harald Kurtz, Jr., and Marian Stooke Kurtz. The family moved to Van Nuys, where Carolyn's sister Mary Lou was born. When Carolyn was seven, the Kurtzes moved to Albuquerque, where brother Jim was born. The family moved back to Los Angeles in 1955, but by then Carolyn had been in New Mexico long enough to acquire the love of mountains and high desert that eventually brought her to Nevada.
Carolyn graduated from George Washington High School in Los Angeles in 1958, then attended Los Angeles City College and Los Angeles State College (now Cal State LA). She received a BA and MA in Home Economics, which she taught at the junior high and high school level in LA and Burbank. She went into school administration in Burbank after receiving an MA in Family Counseling from Pepperdine University.
Carolyn married her high school sweetheart in 1962 but they split up while she was pregnant with her only child, Douglas James, born in 1967. In September 1971, she wed Melvin James Simpson, a World War II veteran. In March 1972, her beloved son Doug was lost in a tragic accident. Carolyn and Mel moved to the Hollywood Hills, but those hills didn't meet Carolyn's longing for mountains, so in 1985 they moved to Carson City at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
In Nevada, she worked in the office of the State Superintendent of Education, traveling around the state as a curriculum consultant. With Mel's encouragement, she enrolled at the University of Nevada, Reno, as a candidate for a Doctorate in Education, but when Mel passed away in 1993, she put her dissertation on hold. During this time, she served as Director of Teacher Services at University of Nevada, Reno. In 1996, she moved to Reno where she served as Vice Principal at Hidden Valley and Marvin Piccolo Elementary, as well as Traner Middle School, before retiring in 2001. She was an active member of Chapter Q, Reno, of P.E.O., an international women's organization that provides scholarships, grants and loans for women in higher education.
In 2001, Carolyn found a new family, or perhaps they found her. In truth, she and the Meintjes family found each other. Carolyn became "OG" (short for "Other Granny") to two boys, Ian and Tate, and a dear friend and "OM" ("Other Mother") to André and Coral. The Meintjes family gained a local granny and another local mom while Carolyn helped raise two young boys as grannies do - "dessert first at my house."
Wherever she went, Carolyn made friends with people of all ages. From her housekeeper to her massage therapist, to all her neighbors and their children, those in her quilting group and in P.E.O., to the caregivers in the medical offices she visited as a patient, all were her friends. Indeed, Carolyn created friendships like no other.
Carolyn loved dogs. She opened her home to many canine companions through the years. Her last three, Sophie, Lulu, and Jazzy, brought her great joy. Carolyn's dear friend and caretaker, Dianna Mott of Carson City, has given "the girls" a new and loving "forever home."
Carolyn was predeceased by her parents, her beloved son Doug, her husband Mel, and her much loved "Other Grandson" Tate Meintjes. She is survived by her sister Mary Louise Kurtz of Alameda, CA; her brother James H. Kurtz and his wife Diane and their son Christopher and his family, all of Virginia; her "adopted" son André Meintjes, his wife Coral, and her "Other Grandson" Ian Meintjes, all from Reno; and by many cousins, friends and past student Kathy Rera and other students from Burbank High School.
At Carolyn's request, there will be no services. At a later date her ashes will be scattered at the same site as her beloved Mel.
Published in Reno Gazette-Journal, November 2019
NOTE: She taught Home Economics at BHS as Mrs. Biermann from 1968 until 1971, then became Mrs. Simpson in September of 1971.
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