Carol Jeannette (Nyre) Tomlinson, passed away on November 25, 2025 at the age of 94.  Carol was born on February 15, 1931, to Lennie and Eunice (Besteland) Nyre, of Carpio, North Dakota.  She was the youngest of 7 children and the first to be born in a hospital. Her siblings never let her forget that, since they were born at their family farm in Carpio.  When Carol was 5 years old, her father passed away from an infection caused by an injury.  After 2 years of trying to keep the farm operating, the family sold it.

Carol’s mother found work and housing for her younger children by cooking for a local family.  Carol lived with her mother there, and her older sisters lived with another family and cooked for them. When Carol was in the 7th grade, she moved to Helena, MT, with her mother and brother.  Her older sister lived there and found work for her mother.  Later, she moved to Seattle where she lived with her mother and aunt while attending high school.  After two years, she moved back to Carpio with her mother to operate the town café. It became the meeting place in their small town. Carol helped serve customers while attending high school. She had fond memories of this time.

After graduating high school in Carpio, she moved back to Seattle and studied nursing at Seattle University. As a student, she trained at Virginia Mason Hospital. Upon graduation, she moved to Sitka, AK, to help with the tuberculosis epidemic. Much of her work was focused on Native Alaskan children brought in from the villages. After a year and a half in Sitka, she moved to southern California to live with her mother who lived close to Carol’s older sister.   She worked as a nurse in a hospital for a short time, then transferred to the blood bank. She told stories of drawing blood from movie stars.

Through friends she met her husband, Richard “Dick” Tomlinson. They were married on July 11, 1959, and lived in Thousand Oaks, CA. Their first daughter, Kari Lee, was born in 1961. In 1962, they moved to Walnut Creek, CA. Their second daughter, Kyle Marie, was born in 1962. During her time in CA, she worked as a homemaker, a nurse in nursing homes, obtained her real estate license and worked as a real estate agent.

In 1978 she moved to Richland, WA, with her family. She took a nursing refresher course and became a certified registered nurse for WA. Her nursing career was centered on caring for elderly patients in their homes.

Carol enjoyed creating projects for her home. She could alter clothing, upholster furniture, and even modify household items to suit her needs. In her nineties, she could often be found with a hack saw, hammer or a crow bar in her hands. (She used a chop saw in her eighties until her family refused to change the blade).  She loved flowers but did not care much for gardening.  However, transplanting wild roses from Carpio to her backyard in Richland was her greatest gardening achievement.

She was proud of her North Dakota and Norwegian roots. Carol always made lefse for the holidays and would utter the occasional “Uff Da” (especially if anyone put anything other than butter and sugar on the lefse).

Carol loved her family deeply and demonstrated her love in many ways.  Visitors at her home were greeted with plenty of their favorite snacks, desserts and even main courses. This also included some of her own favorites which were ice cream bars, chocolates (her favorite was See’s Candies), orange slice candy, Danish pastries and donut holes. A typical thank you or birthday gift from her was her homemade angel food cake with lemon buttercream frosting.

Carol lost her husband in 2007 and lived independently in her home for her remaining years. Much of this time was spent with family, watching her grandchildren grow into adults. One way she showed her love was with humor and playing tricks on her family. Her entire family knew that Carol was worrying about them and praying for them, too. Praying and worrying went hand in hand for Carol and all her loved ones were comforted by that.

Carol is survived by her daughter Kari (Tomlinson) Leggett, son in law Benjamin Leggett, Richland; son in law Brian Dixon, Yakima; grandchildren Kendra Darlington (husband Thomas) West Richland; Benjamin Jansen Leggett (wife Shauna), Seattle; Jacob Dixon (wife Ali), Kirkland; Zachary Dixon; Kirkland, great-grandsons Benjamin Maple Leggett; Seattle, and Douglas Dixon, Kirkland. (Great granddaughter TBA Leggett, Seattle; is expected in late December)

Carol is preceded in death by her husband Richard “Dick” Tomlinson (6/30/2007) and her daughter Kyle Dixon (11/27/2022).  Carol was looking forward to being reunited with Dick and Kyle as well as her childhood family.

In lieu of flowers or gifts, memorial donations in the name of Kyle Dixon, Carol’s daughter, can be made to the Musella Foundation at https://virtualtrials.org/donate.cfm