Carol Ruth Simpson

Carol Ruth Simpson, passed away on March 7, 2014 after a long and heroic battle with cancer. She will be missed by family, friends, and hundreds of former students she taught over the years.

A memorial service will be at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, March 15, 2014 at Edgewater Christian Fellowship (101 Assembly Circle) with Jay Milojevich conducting. Private interment will be at Hillcrest Memorial Park. Hull & Hull Funeral Directors are in charge of arrangements.

Remembrances may be made to Edgewater Christian Fellowship, 101 Assembly Circle, Grants Pass, Oregon 97526 or Lovejoy Hospice, 939 SE 8th Street, Grants Pass, Oregon 97526 or American Cancer Society, 31 W 6th Street, Medford, Oregon 97501.

Carol was born August 16, 1941 in Okanagan, Washington to Rex & Ruth Houtz. She started grade school in the one room schoolhouse in Izee, Oregon where her father was working as a logger. After his death in a logging accident, her mother, sister and she briefly lived in John Day before settling down in Burns, Oregon. Carol graduated from Burns Union High School in 1959 and attended Eastern Oregon College for two years. Wanting to become a teacher, Carol transferred to Western Oregon College and earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Education in the spring of 1963.

Upon graduation, Carol moved from Burns, Oregon to Grants Pass where she began her career teaching 1st grade at Roosevelt Elementary school in the fall of 1963. It was here that she met her husband Ferris Simpson. They were married at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on July 25, 1965 and began their lifelong passion for travel by touring Europe in the summer of 1966.

Carol and Ferris had two sons and spent countless hours and weekends at soccer and basketball games, cross-country meets and other athletic events her boys were involved in.

Over the next 30 plus years, Carol taught school in Grants Pass. The majority of those years were at Highland Elementary School where she loved teaching. While she officially retired in 1998, she could be found many years after that in the halls of Highland Elementary where she was substitute teaching, volunteering, or just visiting good friends.

Upon retirement, Carol and Ferris resumed their passion for travel by making it to five of the world’s continents. She loved spending time at their cabin on the Rogue River in Union Creek, Oregon and was always up for a trip to the Oregon Coast. In the 50 plus years Carol lived in Grants Pass, she never forgot her Eastern Oregon roots and loved to visit her sister and nieces who reside there.

For over 10 years, Carol battled and WON the fight against cancer. She did not let it define who she was and for those that know her, she did not let it slow her down one bit! We have watched this heroic fight and have been inspired beyond all measure. Grace and dignity along with her tough Eastern Oregon determination and the love of her family defined her, and in this she was proud.

Carol attended Edgewater Christian Fellowship and was a member of the PEO.

She volunteered at Highland Elementary School especially working in her grandkids classrooms.

Her hobbies included travel, cooking, crafts, gardening and sewing.

Carol was preceded in death by her mother Ruth and sister Joyce. She is survived by Ferris Simpson, her husband of almost 50 years, her son Scott and wife Andrea and children Hunter and Summer all of Eugene, Oregon and her son Craig and wife Heidi and children Aiden, Quinton and Ziann all of Grants Pass, Oregon.

May God bless her soul and may she finally rest in peace.