Carol Ann (Brunsell) Richardson

Carol Ann Brunsell was born on May 25, 1937 in Glasgow, Montana to parents Weston Edwin Brunsell & Ann Oline Olsen. As a baby she & her family moved to Sand Point, Idaho.

While growing up as an only child in Northern Idaho, Carol had many fun experiences with her family. Her Father taught her to hunt, fish, & chop wood. He taught her where to go to pick huckleberries & how to keep away from the bears. Growing up she was athletic, she won awards in competitive shooting and became an advanced skier.

She loved spending time with her mother in their flower garden best known for a vast collection of iris among other flowers. Her mother was a math teacher which explains Carol's strong aptitude for math which she taught along with music throughout her teaching career.

Carol had a love of music from an early age. She and her parents would often sing their way to a camping or fishing trip. Her father sang barbershop harmony & was naturally gifted singer. She listened to her Father practicing with his barbershop quartet & loved singing harmony with them. She also listened to her Opera records by the hours and learned to sing all the parts.

Even though Carol was an only child, her parents taught her to be independent & fearless at an early age. She and her girlfriends would take off in an old Model A car, a gift from a girlfriend's grandfather and had many adventures and many flat tires! Carol has always been outgoing & loved meeting people. She still has a close friendship with two friends she met in third grade, and most of her real estate clients quickly became friends.

As Carol grew up, she spent a good deal of time listening to music, singing, and dreaming of all the places she would like to ski. She also would drive out to the local airport and frequently take plane rides with many of the pilots flying from Sand Point to surrounding destinations in small planes. She said they would buzz her house to let her folks know she was on the plane & would be home later.

Carol started to college at St. Olof, in Minnesota to study music for two years. Her last two years of study were at the University of Idaho. After graduating from college, Carol moved to California to teach. She started teaching in Bakersfield, then Modesto. Later, she moved to San Francisco and found a singing partner. The two of them sang for weddings, bar mitzvahs, birthday parties and a collection of musicals where Carol often had the leading ingenue role. Carol tried out for the Opera San Francisco. She had an outstanding performance when she auditioned. The reason she was not selected was because she had no experience singing with an orchestra.

Carol loved the excitement of living in San Francisco. She taught school during the day and sang at a piano bar at night. Teaching proved to be a great adventure with some rowdy boys in her class, however she would often hear them comment about her “guns" as she was writing on the board. She was quite strong, and she did have some impressive biceps. She said once she pulled two fighting boys apart & once they knew how strong she was, they never gave her trouble again.

After teaching school for a few years, she traveled to Europe by herself. She had traveled to France and Germany before to ski the French Alps, but this time she moved to France alone, and got a teaching job In France where she was teaching US Students on military base in France. This teaching job gave her the opportunity to ski most every weekend. She always paid for her own lift ticket telling interested boyfriends they could ski with her if they could keep up; otherwise she would meet them at the end of the day. Europe was quite an adventure! Carol decided to return to the U.S. and wanted to see if she could earn a living singing, so she moved to New York and focused her efforts on singing rather than teaching.

She was introduced to a wonderful singing teacher named Myrtle who had been quite famous singing opera in her earlier years. She became a wonderful mentor, teacher, and friend who came to visit Carol later in Colorado. In New York, she met the love of her life, Bob Richardson. While focusing on singing, she also worked at the Convention Bureau in New York as well as Gentleman's Quarterly. She actually met Bob thru the Convention Bureau, and then he learned she was a singer. He asked her what she sang, thinking it might be more of a hobby. To answer Bob most effectively, she broke into song in full voice on one of their first dates and he was amazed and delighted!

After dating awhile, the two were married and came to live in Evergreen, Colorado. The first year that Carol was living in Colorado she was instrumental in working for and organizing the Evergreen Arts Festival in Evergreen, Colorado. Carol and Bob both loved living in Evergreen, and they were both selling real estate. Carol found a new area being developed in Grant Ranch, and when Bob learned that he could have a boat if they moved to Grant Ranch he was ready to move. They became very active members of the Yacht Club. Bob found and restored a beautiful sail boat. He also built a 16-foot-long canoe from scratch. In addition, he helped with all types of repairs around the marina. Carol was active assisting in the Design Review Committee for both Grant Ranch and Poppy Hills Committees.

For the past 35 years and up until she broke her arm this year she loved working as a realtor. Her outgoing personality & love of people made selling real estate a perfect career choice. She not only sold people houses, she made long term friends. Even before her last surgery, Carol was speaking with one of her surgical nurses about downsizing and potentially moving to Poppy Hills. For example: If there was a family that needed a bed for a daughter she would call some of her friends and miraculously would find a bed, or a dining room set for a young couple. She helped all her clients and all the people she met to make connections, sometimes resulting in new jobs. She helped people form new relationships, and even helped some of her clients by taking them to a doctor's appointment if they were in a bind or didn't have a ride.

Some of the things that I know for sure are: We need more "Carol's” in our world today; If we all cared for our sisters and brothers the way Carol cared for all people there would be much less fighting in our world; Honesty is always the right policy; It takes far less effort to be nice than it does to be snappy; and You CAN do anything in this world you want if you are willing to work for it! We were blessed to have her in our lives, and she will be missed greatly.

Carol Ann Brunsell Richardson passed away very peacefully at 5:30 p.m. on August 20, 2018 at Denver Hospice.

Carol Richardson is survived by her cat Kiki who has moved around the corner with a good friend.

Son - Douglas Gerald Richardson & wife Virginia Sarapura + their son Fergus (grandson)

Son - Paul Robert Richardson + his 2 sons: Nicholas R. Richardson & wife Carina + their daughter Louisa

(grandson Nic), (great granddaughter Louisa); Benjamin Douglas Richardson & wife Danielle

(grandson Ben) + children: Blake Paulson, Sydney Paulson, & Chase Paulson,

Daughter - Julia Elizabeth Walsh & husband Bill + their son Connor + their daughter Allison & husband Jason Perry + their daughter Barrett (grandson Connor), (granddaughter Allison), (great granddaughter Barrett)

Brother - Bill Richardson & wife Pat, Bill's son Thomas & wife Kristal + their daughters (Leah & Alyssa)

Bills daughter-in-law Nadine Richardson Witzel, granddaughters Kelly & Jennifer (Kelly's 2 daughters + Jennifer's 2 sons)

A Committal Service will be held on Thursday, September 20, 2018 at 10:30 A.M. at Ft. Logan National Cemetery, staging area "B" followed by a Memorial Service at 11:30 A.M. at John Collins United Methodist Church, 2320 S. Bannock Street, Denver, CO 80223

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