Carolyn P. Willingham passed away Sunday, Sept. 2, at the age of 48. She is survived by her mother Hilary of Oak Harbor, her sister Susan of Seattle and her brother Richard of Hamilton, N.J.

Care was born in Seattle on July 28, 1970 and graduated in 1988 from Bartlett High School in Tennessee. She earned her bachelor of arts at Western Washington University in 1994 and received her masters in education at Walden University in 2005.

Carolyn was a special education teacher since 1995, and has been a teacher at Sacajawea Middle School in Federal Way since 2004.

Care was an avid (some might say too avid) Seattle sports fan.

She loved the outdoors and looked forward to camping with friends and enjoyed summer trips to Pacific Beach with family and co-workers.

She adored her golden retriever, Linus, loved gardening, cooking and baking — especially with chocolate — and trying foods from different parts of the world.

Care was a loving friend, mentor, teacher, sister and daughter. She has been taken away from us far too soon, and she’ll be greatly missed by all who have been given the gift of having known her.

Care fought bravely and defeated breast cancer in 2017. To honor her memory, donations can be made to aid in the battle against breast cancer at Making Strides of South Sound, which helps funds breast cancer research at The American Cancer Society.

Services will be held Thursday, Sept. 2 at 12:30 p.m. at Evergreen Washelli in Seattle.