Carolyn Jean Skoubo, longtime Boardman resident, passed away on July 10, 2018 at St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise, Idaho at the age of 87.
She was born on May 21, 1931 in Portland to George and Nina Pearl Parks Sicard.
As a child, she learned to play the violin and trombone. In 1942, her family moved to Boardman to live with her grandfather, who was in ill health. He ran a dairy farm there. Carolyn milked cows, picked berries and generally helped around the farm.
Carolyn graduated valedictorian of her class at Riverside High School in Boardman in 1948. She then attended La Grande Junior College, studying math and chemistry, graduating in 1950. While attending, she was also a civilian enemy aircraft spotter after World War II.
She lived down the road from Gunnar Skoubo, whom she married in Kansas City, Mo. on Dec. 27, 1950 while he was on leave from the Army. Carolyn lived with German families in Brukenow Stadt and Ashaffenburg, Germany while Gunnar was stationed at nearby Bremerhaven. Together they visited places such as Denmark, Austria, Paris and Germany, as well as Hawaii in later years. Carolyn returned to the states aboard the ship SS Stockholm on Jan. 25, 1952.
After Gunnar was discharged, they returned to Boardman where they raised three daughters. Carolyn worked for the U.S. Postal Service and became postmaster in 1989, traveling and living in Pendleton, Adams, Rufus and Arlington until she retired in 1994.
Carolyn was always reading and learning new things. In June 2000, at the age of 69, she graduated from Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton with
an associate degree in both Business Management and Accounting. She was a member of the Eagles and Lions Club Auxiliaries in Boardman, and N.A.P.U.S. (National Association of Postmasters of the United States). Carolyn enjoyed making rose petal wine and decorating wedding cakes, and was an emergency medical technician (EMT) and volunteer ambulance attendant in later years with Boardman Rural Volunteer Fire Department. Carolyn loved cats and after Gunnar’s death raised as many as 13 cats at one time.
She is survived by her three daughters, Patsy of Pendleton, Kathy of La Grande and Linda of Richland, Wash.; their husbands; five grandchildren; and one great grandson.
Carolyn was preceded in death by her parents; her husband of 55 years, Gunnar; brother, Robert Sicard; and sister, Maxine Fitzgerald.
She will be missed by family, friends and neighbors.
A graveside funeral service will be held on Saturday, July 14, 2018 at 2 p.m. at the Riverview Cemetery in Boardman.
Please sign the online condolence book at burnsmortuaryhermiston.com.
Burns Mortuary of Hermiston is in care of arrangements.
