CAROLE ANN KENNEDY ROBESON: RIP 2025

“We knew that this would happen.”

Gravestone marker Jon and Carole Ann

My sister passed away a four weeks ago but it has taken that amount of time to write about it. Nobody has known her as long as I have known her and maybe that’s my delay in saying a few words about her. There is far too much to say.

Who was Carole Ann?

For those of you who knew her for a short period of time – or even for years – you probably do know Carole Ann in a fundamental way. She always was who she was. That never changed. This is not to say that my sister didn’t grow every day of her life. Because she did. She was a lifelong learner before that term existed.

In a sound-bite world of shallow thinking, Carole Ann was a pragmatic intellectual, supplemented with common sense and awash with critical discernment. Her laboratory was nature and its creatures, both human and otherwise. Her brainfood was books.

She loved people but was justifiably intolerant of fools. Her friends “de jour” were those whose sense of humor was compatible with her own, and which could quickly spark outbursts of uncontrollable laughter. Inappropriately silly at times, but funny, nonetheless.

Below are my journal entries immediately before and after her demise:

Flight from Denver to Chicago; Thursday, January 16, 2025

Carole Ann will not live much longer and I am on my way to see her and her family. Kenny and I will drive tomorrow (Friday) morning to Oregon, IL. So many stories about her. We have always been close, sharing so many experiences and conversations from childhood through marriages, kids, and grandkids. Reading and discussing books: comic books through classic literature; movies; travel to Ireland.

Flight from Chicago to Denver; Friday, January 24, 2025

Well, I got to see Carole Ann last Friday, a week ago, on the 17^th. Kenny, Jane, and I had a good conversation with her. Over the weekend I got word that she was declining quickly, so much so, that I went back again to see her on Monday, the 20^th. Very little conversation took place that day. I said “good bye” and left knowing that she would die soon. (She passed away on Wednesday, the 22^nd.) Today, I am not sure of the date of the funeral. 

A Shared Life

We were 16 months apart but could have been virtual twins for my first 18 years, sharing a bedroom for much of that time in Braidwood. Our lives were entwined.

• At family gatherings at the houses of: Nick and Helen’s; Homer and June’s; Mary Holman’s; George and Lois’s; and the Dahl’s. 
• Delivering papers and collecting for the Herald-News.
• Reading books and the Encyclopedia with its annual supplements.
• Trumpet and piano lessons.
• Friday fish with mom and dad in Braceville.
• Learning human anatomy via Sears catalogues.
• Listening to radio on Walker Street and watching TV shows on East Main St. 
• Riding school buses to Wilmington and then to Joliet.
• Saturday nights in Wilmington with mom and dad.
• The Braidwood Recreation Club, swimming, ice skating, and wilderness excursions. 
• Sledding down the “Q Hill” on the east side of town.

Although Kenny is 9 years younger than me, he knew Carole Ann as well as I knew her, albeit in a different way. As close as we were growing up in Braidwood, the three of us became even closer after our marriages. Our get togethers were frequent over the past 50+ years, culminating in our trip to Ireland in 1994. Until Carole Ann left us, we would call one another on a weekly basis. Our respective children, 11 in all, are also close friends.

Final Thought

Kenny Joe, Carole Ann, and I shared a common philosophy about politics, world affairs, and most things in general which could be summarized as follows:

“It doesn’t really matter,

And we don’t give a shit.