OBITUARY: Caroline Irene “Carolyn” Conseen-Smith

by Aug 4, 2022OBITUARIES0 comments

Caroline Irene “Carolyn” Conseen-Smith, 72, passed away early Wednesday morning, Aug. 3, 2022 at her home in Cherokee.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 5 at Rocky River Baptist Church.  Pastor Dennis Stegall will officiate and interment will follow in the church cemetery.  The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the church.

Caroline was born Aug. 28, 1949 in Swain County to the late Nancy Ann Conseen.  She was a 1968 graduate of Swain County High School and 1969 graduate of Haskell Institute.  She retired from the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  She had previously worked for ADIA Temp Services, US. Department of Labor, US Department of Energy, US Energy and Research Development Administration and US Dept. of Interior, as well as Qualla Arts and Crafts and Tomahawk Gift Shop.

She was a member of Rocky River Baptist Church in Anson County, where she taught Sunday school, directed and made costumes for church plays.  She loved singing in the choir and organizing groups for Sunday afternoon gospel singing.

One of her greatest pleasures was volunteering for Stanly County.  She gave her time from 2000 to 2017 to restoring the box gardens at the Stanly Commons.  She did this along with her husband, until his death in 2017.  She then returned home to the Qualla Boundary.   She loved her work, planting and caring for the plants and loved the people she came in contact with.

She loved all types of arts and crafts. She made honeysuckle baskets, costume jewelry, and painted.

In addition to her mother, she was preceded in death by her husband, Samuel Lamar Smith, and sister, Pamela L. Conseen-Adams.

She is survived by brothers, Donald F. Conseen, John Katz, Andrew Conseen-Duff (Christle), Martin Daniel Conseen (Tracy); sisters, Deb Conseen-Bradley (Craig) and Martha Ledford (Calloway); as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

Memorials may be made to:  Rocky River Baptist Church, 297 Rocky River Church Road, Polkton, NC 28135 or Richard (Yogi) Crowe Scholarship Fund, P. O. Box 892, Cherokee, NC 28719.