- Date Of Birth: Tuesday, April 9th, 1935
- Date Of Death: Wednesday, October 6th, 2021
- State: Indiana
Mary Carol Work, 86, of Bloomington passed away peacefully surrounded by love in her own home on Wednesday, October 6, 2021 after a heroic battle against cancer. Her family and friends take comfort in knowing her Catholic Faith teaches she is in a heavenly place of eternal rest with God.
Carol was born April 9, 1935 in Los Angeles, CA and was the daughter of the late Donn W. and Mary Grace (Walsh) Penn. She worked as a Dental Assistant for many years for Randall Harwood D.D.S. in California before moving to Indiana to be closer to her daughter and son-in-law. Her primary community was with St. Charles Church and in particular the Oblates and Retirees Group. She delighted in participating in Oeding and Bannec Family holidays and birthdays as well as her neighborhood Fine Wine Group. She was a regular at the Monroe County YMCA W.I.S.E. Program.
Survivors include two sons, Kevin Work and Dru (Jessica) Johnson; brother, Donald W. Penn; cousin, Sharon O’Connor; and daughter, Karen (Brian) Oeding along with an inner circle of people near and far who are family of her heart. It would be impossible to name all the intentionally “loved like” brothers, sisters, children, and grandchildren Carol had but each one knows that special bond they shared.
She spent a lifetime nurturing deep and meaningful relationships with relatives, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances. She found great joy connecting with people and carrying on interesting conversations or telling detailed stories. It seemed she could talk with anyone of any age or background and they would come away feeling special and loved. She went out of her way to deliver thoughtful gifts, cookies, or just drop by (in pre-Covid times) for a hug. You could count on her word and she followed through with every responsibility. Her grace, dignity, genuine friendliness, enthusiasm, and helpful attitude was a rare and beautiful gift to this world. She bloomed where she was planted.
She had such respect and affection for her health care team including but not limited to Dr. Bryan Hoff, Dr. Jean-Paul Etienne, Dr. German, Dr. Jackie Joyce, Dr. McTigue and the staff at the Infusion Center. She was truly grateful for the high level of compassionate and competent care she received. Her daughter said Carol’s appointments would run over time because she’d visit with people on the way in then the Doctors and again the chats while making a new appointment on the way out. After each appointment she’d comment “Aren’t they all just great to me?”
Then there were her friends at Kroger Pharmacy, the plumbers, lawn care, Michael & Angel at Edward Jones, or Joe at Ken’s West Side. But the list will end here for fear of leaving someone out – she would never want anyone to feel slighted.
She said “I try every day to do something nice for someone. It’s even better if they don’t find out I did it.”
