Carole Probst

Carole Ann (Diepenbrock) Probst, age 77, passed away on December 25, 2024, in Ogden, Utah. Born on January 14, 1947, in Yakima, Washington, Carole was the beloved daughter of Lucille Edgar Kennedy and Donald Kennedy.
Carole's father, Donald, was a World War II pilot who tragically died in a boating accident three months before her birth. After Donald's passing, Lucille moved to Fairfield, California, to live with her sister, LaDell Ryan, whose husband was stationed at Travis Air Force Base. While participating in a fashion show, Lucille met John "Diep" Diepenbrock, also an Air Force pilot. The two married when Carole was three years old, and John became a devoted and loving father to her.
As part of a military family, Carole experienced a childhood filled with frequent relocations, calling places like Hawaii, North Dakota, Guam, New York, and Alabama home. She graduated with honors from her high school in Montgomery, Alabama, and went on to attend Brigham Young University. There, she met David J. Probst, and three months later the couple married on June 10, 1968, in the Salt Lake Temple.
Carole earned a bachelor's degree in secondary education from Brigham Young University, focusing on history and geography, and quickly distinguished herself as an exceptional teacher. While at BYU, the dean of her department described her as one of the best teachers he had ever seen graduate. Carole began her teaching career at a junior high school in Provo, Utah, before moving to Fairfax, Virginia, where she taught high school for four years while David attended dental school at Georgetown University.
After David's graduation the couple moved to Chicago, Illinois where David served as a navy dental officer. Thereafter, the couple relocated to Fallon, Nevada, known for its naval air station and later as the home of TOPGUN. Fallon became the family's home for 35 years. Carole's talents extended beyond the classroom as she focused on raising their four daughters and serving in numerous callings within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She influenced countless lives as a teacher and leader in church youth programs and the Relief Society, always placing service to others at the forefront.
Carole was a phenomenal cook and baker. She had never met a recipe that she couldn't tinker with and improve. Shortly after Carole and David married, she started experimenting with the Nestle Toll House cookie recipe. She came up with a chocolate chip cookie that she would become world renowned for. Baking cookies was another way she served people. If you stopped by her house in Fallon, you'd leave with a bag of cookies; if she stopped by your house, she'd bring you a bag of cookies; if she was teaching a class, she always brought cookies. If you had something to celebrate, you got her delicious cookies, and if life wasn't going so well, there she was to sweeten it a little with her cookies. Sharing cookies was just one of the many ways she showed love to those in the community. Years later, due to her niece working at the White House, "Aunt Carole's Cookies" became presidential cookies. "Aunt Carole" would bake and send her cookies all over the world to President George W. Bush and his White House staffers on numerous occasions, culminating in meeting the president and getting a personal tour of Air Force One in October 2007.
In 2013, after David's retirement, Carole and David moved to Pleasant Grove, Utah, to be closer to loved ones. Though she began experiencing memory loss shortly after the move, her resilience and loving spirit endured as she cared devotedly for her mother. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2019, facing the challenges of the disease with grace and the support of her family.
Carole is survived by her husband, David Probst; her sister, Leslie (Neall) Humphrey; her daughters, Erica (Kevin) Shearer, Erin (Dustin) Callaway, Megan (Tannin) Fuja, and Alyssa (Ted) Olsen; 15 grandchildren; and 6 (soon to be 8) great-grandchildren. Her legacy of love, faith, and service lives on in her family, the students she inspired, and the cherished recipes she shared with all who knew her.
Funeral services will be held Monday, January 6, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. in the Manila Creek Third Ward Chapel, 3785 West Box Elder Drive, (4000 N) Pleasant Grove, UT. Family and friends may attend a visitation from 9:30 - 10:30 a.m. prior to the funeral service. Interment will follow in the Highland City Cemetery under the direction of Olpin Family Mortuary, Pleasant Grove, Utah. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.olpinmortuary.com.
Carole's family invites all who knew her to celebrate her life and carry forward her spirit of kindness and service.