Carolyn J. Metz
January 17, 1943-February 4, 2024
Carolyn J. Metz, 81, passed away February 4, 2024 at Altenheim Health and Living following an extended illness.
Carolyn was the daughter of Thomas and Violet Berry of Elwood, now deceased, and has an older brother, Phillip, who resides in Akron. Also remaining is her husband,
Larry, miniature poodle Buddy and calico short-haired cat Sam.
Carolyn was born on January 17, 1943 in Mount Vernon, Indiana and grew up in Elwood. She had a paper route when growing up. She was in the high school band and became the pianist at church, accompanying her mother who was the organist. She attended Anderson College, graduated in 1965, becoming an Art Teacher, teaching in Tipton, Goshen, Elkhart and Anderson. She obtained her Masters in Art History from Ball State University. She married the preacher’s kid, Larry R. Metz in June 1967. They lived in Elkhart and Indianapolis, as Larry’s first employment was a professional with the YMCA.
When they moved to Indianapolis, Carolyn started part time at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in charge of the slide collection, that over20 years she moved up to her last position as director of education. During that time she became interested in library science, and obtained a Masters in Library Science from Indiana University. Upon retiring from the museum, she was employed 15 years with Anderson Public Library, over the audio visual department until her retirement.
During more than 55 years of marriage, Larry and Carolyn were active with the Garfield Park Church of God in Indianapolis, as Carolyn became the organist and served in several leadership roles. From the beginning of their marriage automobiles were a focus of their recreational activities, as they exceeded 50 years as members of the Sports Car Club of America. They have always had at least one sports car convertible. Their primary activity was autocross/solo racing. Carolyn proved to be successful at it winning many awards in Indiana competitions. In a four year period, in divisional multistate competition she was either first or second. They attended 17 national championships, as Carolyn won a third place award of her ladies class in 1980, in their Honda Civic. During those years of racing and working at the Museum, Carolyn became a very good amateur photographer, even winning some ribbons at the Parke County covered bridge festival.
From 1986 until 2017 they lived in Fishers, where Carolyn enjoyed caring for landscaping and flowers at their home, as well as being an animal lover, having multiple cats over the years, up to three at a time, and then during retirement years added and enjoyed miniature poodles. Due to commercial development by and around IKEA in Fishers, Carolyn and Larry were forced to move from what they thought to be their retirement home, so they returned back to the Southside of Indianapolis, to be closer to their church (Garfield Park). This home on a two acre property needed a lot of landscaping work, which they both enjoyed, as 95 special peony plants were moved with them from Fishers. They had a landscape architect develop a plan for their property, as they have been taking several years for to fully complete. This property also included a six car dream garage for Larry , to house their small collection of cars.
The past eight years Carolyn had a long struggle with dementia, that became serious enough that two years ago she began her stay at Altenheim assisted living/ memory care. With no other relatives or family to assist, Larry had to seek assistance for her care. An attempt at home care did not work out. This appeared to be a good solution, as it is just a few minutes drive from home, so Larry could visit often.
Then most recently, a fall resulted in a fracture that was treated with a partial hip replacement, but it has been a major challenge for Carolyn to overcome. She did not return to walking after the accident, and slowly got worse with other medical complications. She was under the assistance of Gentiva Hospice as she was now a resident in the long term care section at Alteneheim, because she was unable to return to her room in Assistive Living/ memory care, where she had been for nearly two years.
A funeral service will be held on Friday, February 9. 2024 at 2 PM at Rozelle-Johnson Funeral Service in Anderson. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the funeral.
Burial will take place at East Maplewood Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be given to Meridian Church of God, 7800 S. Meridian Street, Indianapolis, IN 46217.
Post online condolences at www.rozelle-johnson.com