Carol Thigpen Hettinger

Carol in her 81 years made a home in thirteen cities on two  continents, visited four of the seven continents, and never lived in the  same house for more than 10 years. Perhaps, creating her  courageous, independent behavior she exhibited throughout her life.  

On September 30, 1939 Carol Francis, the first child of Bennie and  Marie Thigpen, was born in Telfair Hospital Savannah while living in a  very small shrimping town of Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt, like many  other small towns of the era, was a place where everyone knew  everybody (and their business).  

Bennie was the oldest of five boys who lived in Isle of Hope, had  many odd jobs including moving Moonshine Stills. His father did  friends “favors” moving them to improve the likelihood of not being  found. He also delivered ice and newspapers. Bennies father “Pop  was also caretaker of the Wormsloe plantation, which afforded Bennie  the opportunity of additional employment in the dairy. Here we must  apologize to some customers who may, or may not, be missing  cream. 

Bennie was in the Air Force and Georgia Air National Gard as an  aircraft mechanic posted at Hunter Field with rank of Master  Sergeant. 

Marie, a country girl from Cullman, Alabama met Bennie during a  motorcycle ride. The initial attraction, according to Marie, was “he  had nice boots”. 

During their marriage and with close ties to the military, Marie saw a  need and decided to open a restaurant to feed military boys a home  cooked meal “because it was the right thing to do” 

Carol’s pesky sister, Brenda Diane was born in 1950, who to this day  claims that the distribution of Carols clothes across the floor must  have been when “I must have been sleep walking”. Was this the  instance that triggered Carols focus on clothes? We will never know.  But we do know that Carol became a second mother to Brenda.

As Carol grew, she belonged to the Rainbow Girls, and was elected  to the queen’s court in the the Thunderbolt centennial on March 6,  1956. 

In 1957 she was part of a group from Savannah High School that  made the last senior trip to Cuba. 

In 1962 she married Vann Earl Hettinger, a native of St. Cloud, Florida  who had been assigned to Savannah by IBM. The move by IBM set a  significant pattern for the rest of her life. 

Following the wedding Carol went to work for NCR until the branch  manager of IBM objected based upon “conflict of interest” and  insisted that she quit her job. 

In 1963, Carol found her true calling, that of a wonderful mother, with  the birth of Sabrina Lynn at the same hospital as Carol. Two years  later, after being relocated by IBM to Columbia, South Carolina, Curt  was born. 

In 1967 IBM moved the family to Westchester County, New York, over  the objection of Carol. She finally agreed because she was promised  that she would only have to live “up there” for two years. Carol  settled in Wilton, Connecticut, which was fortunate because it  enabled Vann to change through many jobs without having to move  the family.  

She found a home which was “only” twice as expensive as planned.  It was the least expensive house available. 

Then four years later, the family found a modern home in West  Redding, Connecticut overlooking a lovely pond, nestled in the  woods. The location was nice, with lots of peepers and bullfrogs in  the summer, lots of skating in the winter, and friendly neighbors. This  provided that same small town feel that she experienced back in  Thunderbolt. 

Sabrina belonged to a Girl Scout troop that decided to take a trip to  England. This trip, conceived while only in the Cadettes, was  planned to be made years later as Senior Girl Scouts. Carol was  neighborhood chairman for the Girl Scouts, and baked, contributed,  and bought back, lots of cakes to raise money for this trip. 

Fifteen years later, in 1982 after the longest two years in history, IBM  moved the family to Raleigh, NC. Once again Carol easily made very  close life long friends with Betsy, Bea, Helen, Linda and Skip.  

When returning to the South, Carol bought a very large home with a  wonderful screened in porch. But Vann spent a great deal of time  going back and forth to New York. After a while, at the end of a full  week of Vann being in New York, when she got the call that he was  returning on schedule on the late flight, she said “Honey, I have sold  the house”….and she did. And moved into a town house.  

Investing in the stock market became a very active activity during this  time. 

Soon, Carol had the chance to spend a couple years living in London,  while Vann traveled around. Carol claimed that she lived overseas for  a couple years and Vann was there for a couple months.  

Returning to Raleigh for the duration of Vann’s career with IBM, she  once again enjoyed the apartment and her neighbors. After  retirement, time was spent looking for a good place to build a new  home, traveling around the south east coast of georgia and the  Carolinas. Then Sabrina, living in Colorado, called to say that she  was pregnant. Immediately Carol decided to move to Colorado and  Vann agreed to follow….with no two year limit…smile 

Expansions, corrections, and other “tales” welcome on this web site. They may be added under the condolences section.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to St. Jude Children's Hospital (stjude.org) or plant a tree in Carol's memory.

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