Carol Ann McNeely

After a long battle with lymphoma, Carol Ann McNeely died peacefully at home on September 18, 2010. Carol was born on March 15, 1938 and grew up on her family’s homestead farm in Rainier, Oregon. She attended Oregon State University and then worked in public service for a variety of agencies in Europe and the US, retiring from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Renton Office. She was an avid gardener and was always delighted to share her knowledge, some good compost or a few bulbs with her friends and neighbors. One of Carol’s passions, second (or perhaps not) only to her love of gardening was ‘rooting’ out and writing about her family history. Her accomplishments in this arena were impressive, and she spent several years painstakingly compiling a comprehensive history of her family, resulting in a 400 page book that details the Hackenberg family in Europe, their immigration to the U.S., the trip west across the Oregon Trail and their life on the home-stead, which is still in the family. Carol is survived by her husband Cyrus ‘Mike’ McNeely, daughter Anna Daggett (Lloyd), daughter Jennifer McNeely, son-in-law Stefan Gulassa, grandchildren Paloma, Weston, Shane and Theodore, sisters Ina Alumbaugh Hammon and Joan Linn, brothers Joseph and Robert Hackenberg, and numerous nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents, Joseph and Wilma Hackenberg and sister Ruth Ring. An informal open house celebration of her life will be held at the family home at 3810 Park Ave N in Renton on October 16 from 2-4 p.m. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made in her name to the Oregon Historical Society (http://www.ohs.org).