Carol Krefting-Youngberg was born July 9, 1918 to Albert and Ella Krefting of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Carol lived in Kirkland, Washington for over 65 years. She passed away after a brief illness on November 29, 2011. She died peacefully at home in her sleep in the presence of her family. She is preceded in death by her parents and her brother Roland Krefting and son Roland. Carol is survived by her husband of sixty-eight years, Carl Youngberg, daughter Vicki Peck of Unalaska, Alaska and son Allan of San Diego, California. Carol and Carl have eleven grandchildren and sixteen great-grandchildren.
Carol’s life-long pursuits were learning, mentoring, gardening and teaching. After raising her three children, she elected to attend Seattle Pacific University where she received a BA degree in Education. She taught at Thoreau Elementary for several years in the Lake Washington School District. Later, she taught memoir writing in the adult education program in Bellevue, Washington. As a grandparent, she taught and mentored her grandchildren in learning skills and one of her favorite hobbies, gardening.
In July 1980, Carol wrote an editorial about the state of education in the Lake Washington School District and expressed her teaching philosophy.
She wrote…“Caring, creative teaching means “risk-taking” and laying oneself on the line. It means helping kids learn to think and express those thoughts, for the world they inherit is full of problems which they need to resolve if they are to survive and enjoy a good life”. ………
The article is a great one that shows her life’s main passion – teaching. The article also defines her independent and warm, yet somewhat stoic, personality.
Carol’s zest for adventure in her life’s journey is witnessed by the unique pottery creations she made for her family and others. She clearly understood the form and function of pottery art. Her successful experiments with texture and glazing are apparent in the different colorations in her pottery. Working with her own original designs, each pottery piece was then personally hand-crafted into completely individual works of art. She also taught the art of pottery to many other people, and this activity was just a small portion of her artistic life.
Gardening in Kirkland was a hobby she ardently pursued for over 60 years. She was a long-time member of the Eastside Garden Club. Her garden was always full of berries and flowers. The Youngberg children and grandchildren always had a sense of adventure and sweet memories when weeding the garden and watching the results emerge.
Carol was very proud of her Norwegian roots. She was a charter member of the “Daughters of Norway”. She enjoyed baking many Norwegian food specialties.
Carol also loved to sew. In her late seventies, she took up cloth doll making and traveled with her daughter Vicki to numerous doll-making seminars. She made cloth dolls to commemorate many special family events.
The Youngberg family will be holding a celebration of life for Carol Krefting-Youngberg in the early part of 2012. Her memory will be etched in stone at the Tahoma National Cemetery with a space reserved for Carl, a distinction provided for by Carl’s WWII service in the Navy.
