Carol Pomeroy Elwell

Carol Pomeroy Elwell was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1912 where she lived with her mother, Carolyn Halik and her father, Harry Pomeroy. Carols childhood with two parents was short lived when at the tender age of six her parents separated. The separation was permanent and would turn out that there was no support or influence from her father for the rest of her life. Carol and her mother moved to Portland, Oregon to live with her mothers older sister, Aunt Della and Aunt Dellas husband. It was at this same age of six years old that Carol was introduced to Christian Science, a religion that would change her whole life and the lives of the many others she would touch. Carol attended Montavilla grade school and graduated from Washington High School, while her mother worked for Meier and Frank in Portland. After completing high school, Carol worked for one year with the intention of attending the Oregon Agricultural College in Corvallis. Most girls married right out of high school so for Carol to plan on college was a rarity, not to mention that it was the height of the depression. Carol saved enough money to attend college for two semesters and was preparing to work during the third when a distant uncle living in LaCrosse, Wisconsin heard of Carols efforts and sent her the money to finish the year. Carol fondly cited this demonstration of supply as one of the important lessons in life that a right idea carries with it everything needed to fulfill it. It was also a right idea for her to apply for and be accepted into the Pi Beta Phi campus sorority. Carols work history is interesting and very different from most other women of her time, as was her whole life. Carol was married for a short two years then divorced. She worked in a dentists office in Portland for a while and then moved to Seattle to work as secretary to the President of Frederick and Nelson. She loved working for that fine store with all the beautiful things as she put it, and for its president. But it was wartime and Carol felt a strong desire to contribute to the war effort. She applied for and got a position with Pan American Airways, which was under contract to the Navy. Carol worked for the Navy in the Pan American Airways reservations office in Fairbanks, Alaska of all places. Working far away from her beautiful Seattle, after two years Carol was offered a promotion to return to Seattle. She didnt take it. Instead, she took a position in the Bank of Fairbanks where she worked for two more years. Carol then returned to Seattle. On her return, Carol went back to Fredrick and Nelson, only this time as a buyer in the gown shop. This soon led to a job offer from a high-end apparel shop in the University District. The buyer position entailed quite a lot of travel with Carol flying between Seattle and New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago. Her free time recreation, from time to time, was to go to a dancing club called the Encore. Here she and a friend from her church plotted a nice vacation for themselves and very shortly rented a cabin on a lake south of Seattle. It was by the calm lake that Carol decided she had enough of traveling. In August, while still at the lake she met Irvin Elwell, another influence that would greatly change her life. Irvin and Carol were married in January of the next year. Irvin, also a Christian Scientist, cherished the idea of becoming a full time Christian Science healer. Not long after they were married, Irvin sold his business and entered the full-time healing practice. As Carol put it, there were some lean years but it seemed right to subsidize Irvins practice. Carol worked as a realtor for a short period and then went into the full time healing practice herself. It was the early sixties and both were active in the First Church of Christ, Science in downtown Seattle. They then moved to Edmonds, Washington where they became members of the Edmonds church. When Irvin passed away in the late seventies, Carol remained an active member, her total time in the Edmonds church encompassing 45 years. Carol moved back to Salem, Oregon to an independent living home for Christian Scientists and was again active in the Salem church. On November 1, 2014 Carol Pomeroy Elwell passed away of natural causes at Sunrise Haven, a Christian Science nursing facility in Kent Washington. Carol was 102 years young.