Obituary for Carolyn F. "Cal" Karel (Weeks)
Carolyn Frances (“Cal”) Karel
1932-2022
Cal, age 89, passed away peacefully on October 3, 2022 in Natick, Massachusetts.
Cal was born in 1932 in Brockton, MA to C. Francis Weeks and Mary Moran Weeks. She spent her early childhood in Brockton, living with her grandmother Loretto Keener’s family. Later Cal moved with the Weeks family to Methuen, where she attended Searles High School, graduating in 1950. According to her high school yearbook, “Cal is a gal with the wonderful combination of personality and friendliness. Besides possessing a grand sense of humor, Carolyn gets very fine grades in all of her many subjects”.
Cal attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, graduating with a B.S. in Mathematics in 1954. After a bicycling trip to Europe (a graduation present from her parents), Carolyn worked for Travelers Insurance in Hartford, CT, and for John Hancock Insurance in Boston. While working in Boston, Cal met Marcus “Marc” Karel, then a graduate student at MIT, and they quickly fell in love. Cal and Marc married in 1958, and remained together until Marc’s death in 2019.
Cal and Marc moved their growing family to Newton, MA in 1961, and they became lifelong residents of that city. Cal devoted her efforts to providing her four children with the comfort and security that previous generations of the family had not known. Cal oversaw household activities, making chores into contests and ensuring everyone learned new skills scholastic and domestic. Cal’s enthusiasm did not stop at the doors of her home – she volunteered at her childrens’ school, organized field trips, and cared her best for all in the neighborhood and even for strangers she met on the street. When Marc became a professor at MIT, she welcomed the members of his laboratory into an extended academic family.
Nor did Cal’s efforts stop when her children grew up – she continued to nurture and protect, as best she could and sometimes with great personal effort, her adult children as well as their children, spouses, friends and pets. Well into her eighties, Cal would show up at soccer games on cold Sunday mornings to cheer on the extended family’s teams.
Cal loved literature, music and travel, and got to see much of the world on her travels with Marc.
Cal is survived by children Steven Karel, Karen Karel, and Debra (Mark) Nardone, grandchildren Emma Griffith and Bennet Karel and their mother Leslie Griffith, grandchildren Amanda Nardone and Kristen Nardone, sister-in-law Rena Carmel, niece Julia Carmel, and grandnephew David Carmel, niece Sharon Mancini and nephew Jim Weeks. She was preceded in death by husband Marc, brother Jim Weeks, and daughter Linda Karel.
Family and friends are welcome to gather and celebrate Cal's life to remember the love and friendship she shared with others at a Funeral Service in the Mary Catherine Chapel of Brasco & Sons Memorial, 773 Moody Street, WALTHAM on Saturday afternoon October 15th at 12:00 pm.
Those who wish to pay their respects to Cal and her family can do so in the Mary Catherine Chapel of Brasco & Sons Memorial, 773 Moody Street, WALTHAM on Saturday morning prior to the service from 11am until 12pm. For those who wish to pay their final respects, but are unable to attend, please be sure to sign the guestbook at www.BrascoFuneralhome.com. Parking attendants will be on duty.
In lieu of flowers, the family would be happy if well-wishers would consider making a donation to the American Red Cross.
1932-2022
Cal, age 89, passed away peacefully on October 3, 2022 in Natick, Massachusetts.
Cal was born in 1932 in Brockton, MA to C. Francis Weeks and Mary Moran Weeks. She spent her early childhood in Brockton, living with her grandmother Loretto Keener’s family. Later Cal moved with the Weeks family to Methuen, where she attended Searles High School, graduating in 1950. According to her high school yearbook, “Cal is a gal with the wonderful combination of personality and friendliness. Besides possessing a grand sense of humor, Carolyn gets very fine grades in all of her many subjects”.
Cal attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, graduating with a B.S. in Mathematics in 1954. After a bicycling trip to Europe (a graduation present from her parents), Carolyn worked for Travelers Insurance in Hartford, CT, and for John Hancock Insurance in Boston. While working in Boston, Cal met Marcus “Marc” Karel, then a graduate student at MIT, and they quickly fell in love. Cal and Marc married in 1958, and remained together until Marc’s death in 2019.
Cal and Marc moved their growing family to Newton, MA in 1961, and they became lifelong residents of that city. Cal devoted her efforts to providing her four children with the comfort and security that previous generations of the family had not known. Cal oversaw household activities, making chores into contests and ensuring everyone learned new skills scholastic and domestic. Cal’s enthusiasm did not stop at the doors of her home – she volunteered at her childrens’ school, organized field trips, and cared her best for all in the neighborhood and even for strangers she met on the street. When Marc became a professor at MIT, she welcomed the members of his laboratory into an extended academic family.
Nor did Cal’s efforts stop when her children grew up – she continued to nurture and protect, as best she could and sometimes with great personal effort, her adult children as well as their children, spouses, friends and pets. Well into her eighties, Cal would show up at soccer games on cold Sunday mornings to cheer on the extended family’s teams.
Cal loved literature, music and travel, and got to see much of the world on her travels with Marc.
Cal is survived by children Steven Karel, Karen Karel, and Debra (Mark) Nardone, grandchildren Emma Griffith and Bennet Karel and their mother Leslie Griffith, grandchildren Amanda Nardone and Kristen Nardone, sister-in-law Rena Carmel, niece Julia Carmel, and grandnephew David Carmel, niece Sharon Mancini and nephew Jim Weeks. She was preceded in death by husband Marc, brother Jim Weeks, and daughter Linda Karel.
Family and friends are welcome to gather and celebrate Cal's life to remember the love and friendship she shared with others at a Funeral Service in the Mary Catherine Chapel of Brasco & Sons Memorial, 773 Moody Street, WALTHAM on Saturday afternoon October 15th at 12:00 pm.
Those who wish to pay their respects to Cal and her family can do so in the Mary Catherine Chapel of Brasco & Sons Memorial, 773 Moody Street, WALTHAM on Saturday morning prior to the service from 11am until 12pm. For those who wish to pay their final respects, but are unable to attend, please be sure to sign the guestbook at www.BrascoFuneralhome.com. Parking attendants will be on duty.
In lieu of flowers, the family would be happy if well-wishers would consider making a donation to the American Red Cross.