It is with profound sorrow that we announce the death of Carol Hoeg Oliver, who passed away suddenly on September 27, 2022, at the age of 80, after a brief and unexpected illness.  She will be deeply, deeply missed.

Carol was a spirited, vibrant woman whose enthusiasm, hard-work and deep care for others showed up in all facets of her life- mother, professor, friend, artist, writer, gardener, cook, and fierce advocate for the under-represented, as well as for all she loved.  She looked for and created deep meaning in life and in all of her interactions, and loved people and honored their stories.  She never met a stranger, and valued nothing more than a “real” conversation—be it with a cherished long-time friend, or someone she had just met. She was one of a kind, and took pride in being her own person and living on her own terms. She was always a strong, independent woman.

Carol’s passions were deep and wide, and included her children, her friends, her students, a love of color and art that permeated throughout her life in both magical and mundane ways, and a lifelong love of literature and poetry, which she embraced daily.  She lived a fiercely value driven life—something she attributed to her family roots.  Her favorite Biblical passages were those from the Book of Matthew on welcoming the stranger.

Born and raised in Decorah Iowa, she spent her early years living at the farm where her own mother was born, a place she continued to cherish throughout her life. Carol was a bundle of energy and enthusiasm right from the start.  A self-described tom-boy, family gatherings might find her in a muddy, bedraggled white pinafore and hair ribbon, relatives having had to pull her away from frog hunting at the farm creek. She had a penchant for showing off her handstands at formal photo times. Carol met adversity with aplomb, she started to sew her own cloths at age 11, after her father suffered an early stroke which changed her family’s financial fortunes. This was just the beginning of a life of embracing and finding adventure in frugality. 

She was editor of the high-school paper and graduated tied at the top of her class.  Throughout high-school and her undergraduate days at Luther College, she would often bike out to the family farm just south of town, and hike up to the bluffs to do her homework surrounded by beloved views of waterfalls, sparkling streams, rolling tree covered hills, and limestone bluffs.

Carol was very close to her extended Iowa family, and attributed her deep values to these roots. She often dreamed of someday returning to live again in Decorah. 

After college, Carol went on to earn her PhD in English Literature at the University of Illinois.  She moved to St. Louis in 1969 with her husband and baby daughter, and gave birth to her two sons in the early 1970s.   

In the mid 1970s, Carol bought her home in University City, where she raised her three children, and began teaching full time at St. Louis College of Pharmacy (StLCop, now the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis).  Her home and her career both brought her decades of joy.

Carol loved her 37 years teaching at StLCop. In the words of her long-term colleague and friend Ken Schafermeyer “Her work … speaks volumes about her empathy and caring for people of all cultures and her efforts had a lasting impact upon the College as well as its faculty and students.”

She created a “Geriatric Medication Game” to increase empathy in working with elderly patients, as well as well-regarded courses in intercultural and health communication, and a world literature elective. Perhaps her greatest joy was her deep collaborations and connections with international students– many of whom became second family–including working with a group of students to establish the university’s International Student Organization in 1997.  

Starting in her fifties, Carol began turning her energy towards early passions that she had largely had to abandon to the demands of full-time work and parenting, particularly re-embracing an interest in travel and her love of art.  Highlights of these included a 24 day impromptu solo trip to Paris, where she “broke free from the grip of the hands of the clock” and several Habitat for Humanity trips, including joining a major work project, led by Jimmy Carter himself, in Durban, South Africa in 2002. She began painting again- primarily still life oil paintings distinguished by warm and bright colors.

After retirement, Carol wrote and published a beautifully written and researched biography of her own mother, the folk artist Laura Hjelle Hoeg.  She continued to paint, cook, and connect with friends and family. She was involved for many years with a truly integrated church in St. Louis, and among other things took great pride in bringing a Tai Chi class, ongoing to this day, to the community, and connecting this church with her friend Mark Sarich’s “Orchestrating Diversity” program.

The pandemic was hard on her, but she met it with her characteristic attitude of finding the challenge in adversity.  One of her great pleasures was looking out her front “triptych” windows: watching the birds and squirrels summoned by her bird feeder, as well as the light bend and reflect through the multi-colored glass balls she hung in her front yard. She kept on eye on her street, and knew her neighbors and their dogs alike.  She created a peaceful and verdant “outdoor living room” in her backyard, where she would invite friends over “for tea or a gin and tonic, their choice.”  She truly delighted in her weekly visits to the Missouri Botanical Gardens with her life-long friend, Jon Isbell, and his granddaughter, Josie.  Although congenitally opposed to much technology, she maintained vibrant phone connections with friends and family across the country.

Carol is survived by her daughter, Christine Laura Oliver (Tim Grafe, children Nico and Elena Grafe), and sons Brian Eric Oliver and Geoffrey Patrick Oliver, her sister Sally Hoeg Williams, her brother, Robert Hoeg, and much loving extended family.  She is preceded in death by her parents, Victor Henry Hoeg and Laura Hjelle Hoeg, and by her dear friend, Paul Rubinstein.

A public memorial service will be held on Saturday, November 5th at 2 PM at St. Paul United Church of Christ at 3510 Giles Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63116, including a zoom option for those unable to attend in person.  Following the service, we invite friends and family to one final gathering at Carol’s to connect, tell stories, and celebrate her life in the warm home she created.  

In lieu of flowers, donations welcome to two local non-profits started by close friends and dear to her heart:

Orchestrating Diversity is a program of the LEMP Neighborhood Arts Center, started by her friend Mark Sarich. Donations can be made online or by check (made out to the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center and addressed to LNAC, 3301 Lemp Ave, St. Louis, MO 63118). Please indicating you are donating in “memory of Carol Oliver” as they would like to list the names in their next program which they are dedicating to Carol’s memory. 

Myanmar Children and Family Medical Foundation was started by her friends Jon Isbell and Dr. Soe Mar. You can contribute to this charity by check or PayPal following details on their website. Please indicate that you are donating in memory of “Carol Oliver spreading the love”.