Carol Ann Withrow

Carol Withrow, a former counselor, died Tuesday, June 08, 2004. She had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. She was 56 years old. Ms. Withrow was born on August 18, 1947 in New York City and grew up on Long Island. At the age of eighteen, she decided she no longer wished to live in a place where it was necessary to avoid eye contact with strangers. She decided to go to the University of Charleston in West Virginia for college. This proved to be a little too much culture shock but she did meet her husband, Don, at school. After her husband finished medical school, the couple came to St. Louis so Ms. Withrow could pursue graduate studies. She earned a doctoral degree in educational counseling at St. Louis University and was Director of Counseling at Reproductive Health Services before she started a family. St. Louis seemed the perfect place to live. It was both big enough to offer things of interest and the ability to lead a private life, and small enough for a sense of community. The couple decided to make this their home. A polio survivor from the age of six, Ms. Withrow suffered from endometriosis, a painful disease that causes infertility, in adulthood. It was her greatest joy in life to have been able to have her two children, Ian and Hope. She loved gardening and needlework for their meditational qualities, but reserved her passion for reading. Though she read many newspapers and periodicals, when it came to books she turned to literature for the larger truths to be found there. Among her suvivors are her husband of thirty-four years, Donald, a son Ian of Fairfax, Virginia, a daughter, Hope; her parents Lawrence and Mary Dumville of Spring Hill, Florida; two sisters, Jean Haney of Macungie, Pennsylvania and Judy Troy of Vancouver, British Columbia, and a brother, Frank Dumville of San Diego, California. A memorial service will be held later this year at the Ethical Society, 9001 Clayton Road. Memorial contributions can be made to Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School, 101 North Warson Road, St. Louis Missouri 63124.