Carol Louise Owings

Carol Louise Owings, 86, of Marion, NC, passed away December 2, 2021, at Rose Hill Retirement Community. A native of Pittsburgh, PA, she was born November 24, 1935, to the late Phyllis L. Cunningham Dietz and William J. Dietz, and baptized at Mahoningtown Presbyterian Church in New Castle, PA. Carol was a graduate of Mars High School in Pittsburgh, PA, and Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in English. She taught high school English and French in Upper St. Clair, PA, before moving to Washington, D.C., where she worked as the executive assistant to the vice president of the American Association of Nurserymen. Carol met and married her husband, Herbert H. Owings, while in Washington and relocated to Northern California where her husband pursued his aerospace engineering career with Lockheed Martin, and she focused her attention on homemaking and raising their two daughters. In 1988, she relocated from California to upstate South Carolina, and ultimately to Montreat, NC, where she volunteered at the conference center for many years.

Carol was an accomplished cook known for her baking and canning, a passionate gardener who loved her large vegetable and rose gardens, a self-taught student of home improvement who was undaunted by the complete renovation of her 100-year-old farm house, and a gentlewoman farmer who tended to a small ranch where she cared for chickens, horses, and cattle, in addition to a bevy of beloved cats and dogs. A skillful cross stitcher and seamstress, she also enjoyed antiquing and reading. Carol was preceded in death by her husband, Herbert H. Owings, and siblings, Suzan D. Shipp and William J. Dietz Jr. Surviving Carol are her daughters Megan (Samy) Basta and Lauren (Aaron) Mathews; her granddaughters Emma, Anne Thomas, and Nora Mathews; and grandson Eli (Mauri) Boragine.

The family wishes to thank the entire staff of Rose Hill Retirement Community for their excellent care over the last four and half years. In lieu of flowers, those wishing to make a memorial gift in Carol’s honor are asked to consider the Rose Hill Retirement Community activity fund or the Black Mountain Home for Children, Youth, and Families by visiting https://www.blackmountainhome.org/.