Carol Lehwald Dull

Carol Ann Dull
Bloomfield Hills, MI
Age 87. Carol Dull (née Lehwald), ended a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease on April 5, 2024 and passed peacefully in the presence of family.
She was the beloved wife of the late Mark Caton Dull Sr. (d.2011). As well, she is the cherished mother of the late Wendy Dull (d.2023) (Tom Stroebel) and of her surviving children Alisoun (Stephen) Brewster; Erica (Craig) Clifford; Mark (Pattie) Dull; and Christopher (Joanne) Dull. Carol also leaves behind ten grandchildren and eight great grandchildren. She is survived also by her sister (and best friend), Mary Lofgren. She very much loved her nieces and nephews, the children of her siblings Mary, Charles, and William (sadly, the latter two preceded her in death).
Carol was born in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in River Forest with her 3 siblings and parents John and Marie Lehwald. She was beautiful and vibrant. At the same time she was rugged and did not suffer fools lightly. Accordingly, a young Carol Lehwald's parents were approached by a Hollywood agent to request she come out to Los Angeles for a reading. John and Marie deferred. Meanwhile, her brother Charles was challenging the neighborhood boys to combat (with her, that is). Apparently, Carol demonstrated great pugilistic acumen. Our grandmother recalled yelling out the kitchen window "Carol! Get off those boys before you hurt somebody!"
Later in life, she modeled briefly, and she appeared in a full page Woolite add in Life Magazine (with our young sister Wendy seated in a chair beside her). Beauty brought other advantages. Despite a heavy foot, she managed to charm her way out of speeding tickets despite multiple traffic stops along our annual summer trek from Detroit to Cape Cod (a 14 hour, station wagon drive with 5 kids whom she had to drive without our father's help).
She attended Oak Park High School and later matriculated at Skidmore College in New York to study art. She was a talented practitioner of the visual arts who one snowy afternoon fashioned a remarkable, realistic snowman dressed in a topcoat and fedora. Its existence is substantiated and immortalized in Lehwald family lore via family photos.
She was also accomplished in drawing and painting. Unfortunately, after she left school, she mysteriously lost interest in developing her skills further and rarely drew or painted again. Despite our questions, she was never able to express why.
Our grandmother often boasted that Carol had to fend off many distinguished suitors – from both sides of the tracks. Some were sons noteworthy for the criminal exploits of their "familias." Others were more of the all-American athlete vein. However, not long into college, she met her future husband Mark Dull who was more bookish and from the East Coast. They met on a double date while she and a friend visited Princeton University. Our mother recalled, "I don't know what came over me, but I suddenly found myself wondering what it would be like to kiss him." As they say, the rest is history.
Shortly afterwards they married and went on to have 6 children, although the first tragically died from meningitis while a young infant. This was a loss from which she never fully recovered, and she rarely could speak of him without tears. Thereafter, they moved to wherever Ford Motor Company led them (with children in tow). Their first protracted "deployment" was in Mexico City, where they lived eight years and raised Wendy, Alisoun, Erica, and Mark. They returned to the states so Mark could pursue his dream of owning a Ford dealership, which they did in Waterford, WI to be close to her parents and siblings in Chicago.
Later they moved to and settled in Michigan where Mark continued to work for Ford until he retired. Throughout their travels, they formed many lasting friendships with a cast of colorful friends and families, many of whom we children were able to meet and enjoy as well. Throughout her life, Carol was a loyal friend and maintained friendships with those she befriended in high school, Mexico, Detroit, and elsewhere along the way.
While in Michigan, Mark and Carol lived the majority of their lives in Bloomfield Hills, and all of the children graduated from either Michigan State or the University of Michigan. To the chagrin of the 4 Spartan children and 1 grandchild, Mom and Dad often leaned towards Wolverine victory (despite the fact only 1 child attended Michigan!). Regardless of any misgivings of their children, Mom and Dad enjoyed many fall tailgates in Ann Arbor with their group of like-minded friends.
When Mark retired, they built their dream home on Lake Michigan in Shelby, Michigan. They wintered in a home they purchased in Rio Verde, Arizona. There, they were situated only a short distance from her sister and brother-in-law, Mary and Lars Lofgren, and the four of them enjoyed near and distant travels. They shared may nights with dinner and wine.
Additionally, Mark and Carol loved to explore the West in just one another's company or with their children Wendy and Tom who lived close by in California. Carol and Mark were very close throughout their marriage and loved to start their day sitting with one another sharing coffee. With the exception of the aforementioned marathon trips to visit Mark's mother Mimi, they were together almost constantly. Their long love affair ended upon my father's death to a heart attack in 2011.
Despite an early knee injury in high school, she (sometimes stubbornly) relished physical exertion throughout her life. She was a talented athlete and loved tennis, golf, speed walking, swimming and cycling.
She was a wonderful cook but disliked cooking. Her tendency to forget items on the stove/in the oven cultivated a family love for "roasted" brussels sprouts – well ahead of the curve of the more modern popular appetite for roasted vegetables. She was an excellent cook of Mexican cuisine, and she occasionally made a mole sauce that required two days to prepare. It was a labor of love for our father, as we kids could never understand the fuss over an oddly flavored and otherwise underwhelming chicken dish. This never bothered our dad, however – as it meant more for him.
She loved her grandchildren perhaps more than anything and delighted spending time 1:1 with them for extended summer visits to Shelby. She taught them to pick raspberries, make jam, and "can" it in Mason Jars. She was a competitive participant with them (and anyone in attendance) in Putt-Putt Golf, Spoons, 31, Yahtzee, Old Maid, Simon (actually, Mother) Says, and many more games. She was a formidable and tireless competitor – without particular regard to the forum or game. She was vociferously faithful to the "rules" and demanded commensurate fidelity to them from the other participants, no matter how young. Truth be told, some of Mom's victories were a reflection of attrition from her opponents (us). However, she was never an unkind or taunting competitor; she simply loved to win and hated to lose.
She took great pleasure in reading – particularly mysteries. She loved also historical literature, be it fiction or non-fiction. She had a penchant for British mysteries -- particularly Agatha Christie novels, which she wore out by repetitive stops and starts. She often struggled to remember whether she had read a particular novel already. She had.
The same was true for her preferences in television and cinema. The family felt she was heavy handed in her appraisal of shows or movies that involved British dialect/accents. This drew her to many PBS mystery series and/or historical fiction series as long as there were British accents – regardless of whether the historical context had any relationship to Great Britain. She was perfectly capable of withholding disbelief when Roman Emperors spoke in the Queen's English. It is noteworthy, however, she happily watched Murder She Wrote and Matlock reruns well in excess of others' tolerance. She was known to fall asleep to a seemingly interminable string of episodes.
At the same time, she enjoyed broad humor and sentimental movies. She and her son Christopher could not pass up Pink Panther Movies or any number of different versions of A Christmas Carol or Scrooge. Unfortunately, Mark did not share the same enthusiasm.
Her paternal grandfather was a farmer and fundamentalist Christian minister. Her grandparents' and parents' faith informed Carol's spiritual development. She was a devout Christian and loved attending church and being a part of her church community. She was more driven by her church's culture than a particular denomination – however, she generally identified herself as Presbyterian.
Although she loved sharing and discussing her faith with others, she rarely proselytized. Instead, she lived her faith, which made her an even more effective ambassador. She enjoyed reading her Upper Room (a monthly devotional publication) every morning, and she turned to God whether times were good or bad.
Carol spent her last thirteen years suffering from Alzheimer's Disease and resulting dementia. She lived in several Memory Care Homes under the watchful eye of the children (and their families) who lived in the facilities' city. This resulted in travels from Detroit to Nashville, San Jose, and back to Detroit. Most recently, she lived and passed at St Anne's Mead in Southfield, MI, where her devoted daughter Erica and son Mark doted over her constantly and provided a great service to both her and the rest of the family in doing so.
As many adult children learn (unfortunately), Alzheimer's disease is merciless and devastating. Perhaps in one sense it was merciful – last spring we lost our beloved oldest sister Wendy at which point Mom could no longer understand or suffer our cruel loss and sorrow. She also "missed" the tragic loss of our young, huge-hearted cousin Jacob and her older brother Charles.
It was painful for all to watch her memory dissipate -- even to the point she could not recognize her children or form full sentences. However, she remained happy, as was her habit, through the great majority of her illness. She took great relish in life until she no longer could. Her cheerful disposition helped sustain the children through her long journey.
Those she loved, mourn a terrible loss, even in death, our mother's love, kindness, honesty, love of life and remarkable, tenacious strength will continue to propel us forward. It is with happy memories we mark and celebrate her life and passing.
A memorial service will be planned for a later date.
Thank you for keeping the Dull family in your thoughts and prayers.