Notes:
Carol Mummah WILKINSON
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CAROL ANN (nee Mummah), age 57, of Newtown Square, on Jan. 25, 2005; beloved wife of Robert C. Jr.; devoted mother of Robert C. III of Suffolk, VA, Chad D. of Alexandria, VA and Corey A. of Havertown; also survived by a granddaughter Rayna; her parents Henry and Emma Mummah of Newtown Square. Relatives and friends of the family are invited to her Memorial Service Friday, Jan. 28th, 12 noon in Founder Great Hall of Haverford College. Memorials may be sent in her name to Haverford Fund at Haverford College, 370 Lancaster Ave., Haverford, PA 19041. Int. private. -
Carol Ann Wilkinson died at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania on January 25, 2005, following a brief but intense illness. Carol had worked at Haverford College since October of 1982, when she took a part-time job as an assistant in the bindery at Magill Library. Over those 22 years, Carol came to know almost every other employee of the College and many of the students. During the last few years, Carol served as the Assistant to the Provost for Faculty Services. Her title and job description changed every few years as more and more responsibilities were handed to her. In her annual self-evaluations, which she put through several drafts, she usually wrote (after a page or two of details), “I did the best I could.”
That was the essence of Carol Wilkinson. She was willing to tackle just about anything that was asked of her, and she was like a well-manicured (remember those fingernails?) bull-dozer in achieving a goal. Her greatest pleasure was in providing a good time for other people. She handled College Visiting Committees year after year, and the visitors almost always wanted to take her back to work on their campuses. In making sure that Haverford’s faculty members had whatever they needed to be productive, Carol was never heard saying an unkind word about any of them. (I tried unsuccessfully to get her to utter just one during the years I knew her.) She loved to entertain at home, cooking and baking, doing whatever would make her guests stay longer and eat more. She and her husband loved to cruise and Carol always had two or three “next” cruises in mind. She knew how to have a good time and could, by sheer force of will, make those around her share in it.
Carol never hesitated to express her opinion, and she had one on just about any subject. After I’d known her a few years, my dinner conversation with my husband was sprinkled with “Carol Wilkinson says. . . .” He took to calling her “The Seer, The Sage” without ever having met her. Carol loved it. She must also have loved the fact that about 300 of her friends and family came together on Friday, January 28 (which would have been her 58th birthday) in Founders Great Hall to remember and celebrate her life in the manner of Friends. There are times when you know you’ve been part of something good. That was one of them.
[Posted By: Administrator - 12-06-2009]