Caroline Sue Hetrick

1939 - 2025

On a winter's day in 1939, beneath the Pennsylvania sky in Patton, Caroline Sue Skebeck was born to Charles and Julia, a daughter who would grow to become the heart that kept a family beating in rhythm.

She graduated from Blacklick Valley High School in 1957, but her greatest education came in the art of loving fiercely and finding light in every shadow.

In 1964, love called her across an ocean to Germany, where she married her long-time love, Richard Calvin Hetrick, on February 7. For sixty-one extraordinary years, they built a life of devotion, laughter, and unwavering partnership.

Caroline wore many hats throughout her life-cosmetologist/instructor, homemaker, factory worker at Sylvania, and for over thirty years, a nurse's aide at Jefferson Manor until her retirement in 2007-but her truest calling was being the command central, the keeper of connections, the voice on the other end of daily phone calls that wove her children, siblings and grandchildren into an unbreakable tapestry.

She filled her days with the simple joys that revealed her generous spirit: tending gardens where life bloomed under her hands, watching birds gather at her feeders, playing cards and Scrabble with the same grace she brought to everything, volunteering with the Red Cross and Blood Mobile and worshipping at the Immaculate Conception Church in Brookville.

Caroline's greatest gift was her vision-not of the birds outside her window, but of the silver linings that others missed, the hope hidden in hardship, the beauty waiting to be noticed.

She leaves behind her beloved Richard; her children, Sandy (Terry) Knapp, Richard (Sheila) Hetrick, Brad (Julie) Hetrick and Patty Hetrick; her granddaughter, Krystle Robinson; great-grandchildren, Lyla Bellantonio and Carson Hetrick; granddaughter-in-law, Shelby Bellantonio; and her siblings, June Skebeck, Violet Pasternak, Francis Skebeck, Patricia Hopkins and Judy Ellenberger; along with countless relatives and friends whose lives she touched with her steadfast optimism and boundless love.

She joins her parents, Charles and Julia; her grandson, Sean; and siblings, Vernon, Charlie and Charlotte in eternal rest.

A Celebration of Life prayer service was held at noon on November 1, 2025 at the Carrier Funeral Home, located at 2834 Maplevale Road in Brookville, with the Rev. Father William Laska officiating.

A private interment was at Meade Chapel Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Cleveland Clinic or the American Red Cross.

Caroline passed peacefully, surrounded by her family, on October 30, 2025, at UPMC Mercy Hospital, but her legacy-the silver linings she taught us all to see-will shine forever.

Online condolences may be shared at www.carrierfh.com.