Carolion
- Published: November 26, 2009
Yellow Springs resident Carolion died peacefully in her home on Wednesday, Nov. 18. She was 62.
Born Caroline Elizabeth Welton April 24, 1947 in Cambridge, Mass., she was the second of four children by Jean and Theodore Welton. Carolion spent her childhood in Oak Ridge, Tenn. where she developed her skills as a young musician and her love for animals and nature. In 1969 she graduated from Miami University with a degree in music theory and composition.
After college she lived in Columbus, Minneapolis and Granite Falls, Minn., where in 1976 she and husband Paul Van Ausdal adopted three children from Inchon, South Korea, and had a fourth child a year later. The family moved to Yellow Springs in 1979. Carolion resided on Spillan Road until 1996, when she moved to Oregon, then to Texas and California. In 2004 she moved back to Yellow Springs and worked at the Yellow Springs Library until August of this year.
Carolion was a musician and music teacher, playwright and director, writer and storyteller, gardener, healer, animal communicator, reverend, reference librarian, wife, mother and dear friend. She studied shamanic practice at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, Calif. and taught at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, N.Y., where she founded the Devic Garden and yearly Peace Pow Wow.
She is preceded in death by her mother, and is survived by her father, Ted Welton of Crossville, Tenn., two sons, Ben Van Ausdal of Fairborn and Max Van Ausdal, stationed at RAF Lakenheath UK, two daughers, Jessie Van Ausdal of Littleton, Colo. and Corrie Van Ausdal of Kansas City, Kan., eight grandchildren, Katie, Conrad, Emmie, Caleb, Aryn, Gabe, Alex and Tiger, former husband Paul Van Ausdal, two brothers, Will Welton of Seattle, Wash., John Welton of San Diego, Calif., one sister, Mary Lou Dillon of Knoxville, Tenn., and numerous in-laws, nieces, nephews and cousins.
A memorial service will be held Friday, Nov. 27 at the Glen Helen Building at 405 Corry Street in Yellow Springs. In lieu of flowers, donations should be sent to the Dayton Peace Museum, the Friends Music Camp Scholarship Fund, Glen Helen or Hospice of Springfield.
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