Carolyn Marie Spores

Eugene - Carolyn Marie Spores, of Eugene and Mohawk, passed away July 14, 2025 while in hospice care at Avamere Riverpark of Eugene. She was born March 10, 1943, at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eugene, the daughter of Marvin and Marie (Norwood) Spores, and the great-great granddaughter of Jacob Spores, who led a wagon train to Oregon in 1847, and was a principal in the European settlement of what would become Coburg, as well as of the Mohawk Valley east of Springfield. Her grandparents were George and Josephine Clark Spores, of Mohawk, and Will Garland and Zelma "Tiny" (Trenholm) Norwood, of Cottage Grove. Until her final years Carolyn maintained residence at the family home and acreage in the Lower Mohawk Valley. There she learned a love of nature and conservation and brought those values to her management of the family property which had been passed down, from the 1850's onward, through the Jacob Spores lineage. In recent years she transferred the home and adjacent property to a niece and nephew Ted Spores and Mary Carol (Spores) Towne, who are restoring the property consistent with the wishes and values of their aunt Carolyn.

Carolyn attended Springfield schools and graduated from Springfield High School and the University of Oregon in the 1960's. Soon after, she entered social service work first at the Campbell Senior Center in Eugene and later as a staff member and eventually long serving supervisor of the Kaufman Senior Center in Eugene. With the assistance of many staff members and caring Center participants, for nearly 25 years she played an instrumental role in the development of many valued programs and a high vitality center serving the citizens of Eugene. Throughout the years she devoted considerable time and effort to our larger family, loving and tending to the needs of our father following the way too early demise of our mother in 1969, but also to the needs of a host of beloved nephews and nieces, including Richard Brent Wilder, Lisa (Spores) Sanchez, Jonathan Spores, Maria Spores, Mary Carol (Spores) Towne, Ted Spores, Julie (Spores) Pope, and Jennifer (Spores) McEvoy. Carolyn's siblings, all senior to her, were prominent influences in her life, including Jeanne LaVelle Wilder (Richard), Ronald Marvin (Marianne and Kishiko), George William (Carol and Bonnie), and John Clark (Deanna and Sharifah Syed Ahmad). A favored activity was visiting with each sister and brother, as well as their children, as they returned home from a range of widespread outposts, or during her visits to their chosen homes across the U.S. and world. Carolyn's life was enriched immeasurably by a host of cousins and dear friends including, among others, Mary Winston and her mother, Elsabe Slatin, Jeri Nelson, and Merrillyn Ward.

Carolyn enjoyed travel, not only throughout the United States, but also to foreign countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Oaxaca/Mexico, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. Notably, upon graduation from UO and local employment at the Alpine Village Inn (River Road) and elsewhere, she began her more adventurous travels by embarking on a $99/99day unlimited Greyhound journey which took her to work in Florida, up the eastern seaboard, and on to brother John's home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she worked in a Montgomery Ward chain store, awaiting the arrival of our parents from Oregon on their first airline journey. This eventuated in a family drive to Massachusetts to attend the PhD. graduation of brother Ronald from Harvard University and then a cross-country drive home to Mohawk. Additionally, in the early 90's she joined brother Bill for an especially joyous journey to Hong Kong, where he had spent a number of years as a businessman during the 1970's. Throughout her life, Carolyn always looked forward to her next journey and a new set of experiences and memories.

Carolyn supported many nature and conservation focused organizations, most especially those centered on birds and dog and cat spay/neuter programs and those involving feral cat rescue. She was an active volunteer and advocate in these and other programs, while emphasizing the attendant values on her Mohawk property and at her rustic McKenzie River cabin near Belknap Springs. Carolyn and the family would be most appreciative of donations to such organizations, as well as to the Springfield Education Association in the name of our mother and long-serving teacher, Marie Spores.

All are invited to a celebration of Carolyn's life at 1-4 p.m., Sunday, September 28, at the Country Inn Events Center, 4100 County Farm Road, Eugene. Refreshments will be served. Please come prepared to share your favorite "Carolyn stories." Additionally, for family there will be spreading of ashes at Mohawk approximately 4-6 p.m.