Carolyn B Drollinger

Carolyn Jean Bird was born at the old Loma Linda Sanitarium on May 19, 1939 - the eldest of three children born to Minnie and Leon Bird. She began her education in the gymnasium of La Sierra Academy in 1946, as the elementary school had recently burned down. She was advanced two grades by the time she started fourth grade. Her early schooling continued in Cottage Grove and Grants Pass, Oregon, then Denver, Colorado, and concluded at Campion Academy. These formative years laid the foundation for a life of resilience, curiosity, and a quiet but determined spirit.
She was working as a waitress when she met Ward Drollinger, the man who would become her husband and life partner for more than 50 years. Together, they raised six children - Mike, Stacy, Robert, Stefanie, Laural, and Doug. In the early years, Carolyn was mostly a stay-at-home mother, though she occasionally worked in local cafés as a waitress or cook. Alongside Ward, she helped with land surveying projects around Ely, Nevada, often bringing the children along for picnics, fishing trips, and long, joy-filled drives down the dusty backroads of White Pine County.
Carolyn's curiosity and compassion drew her toward medicine. What began with a basic Red Cross class and home nursing instruction led her unexpectedly into an EMT program - one she had assumed was an advanced first-aid class. But that class opened a door, and a calling took root. Working as an ER technician, she discovered a passion for trauma care and obstetrics, and decided to pursue a career in nursing. Her nursing journey formally began in 1977 when the family moved to southeastern Utah. She saw an ad for a Practical Nursing program, applied as an alternate, and was accepted when a spot opened. She completed the program with determination, graduating as an LPN and beginning work at Monument Valley Adventist Hospital. When Ward later took a job in Farmington, NM, Carolyn seized the opportunity to earn her RN through a ladder program. She passed her state boards and returned to Monument Valley, eventually earning her Bachelor's Degree in Nursing through a distance learning program from Atlantic Union College - and along the way, a new appreciation for American history.
In her 50s, she and Ward moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where she worked at Sunrise Hospital and ultimately became a Critical Care Nurse - the goal she had set for herself years earlier. She retired from active nursing in 1993, but her skills and passion for helping others never faded. In 1994, Carolyn and Ward responded to a call for English teachers in China and spent two years at a small medical college in Sichuan Province. She flourished in that setting - shopping at street markets instead of eating in the staff dining hall, learning new flavors and cooking techniques, and embracing the slow pace of life and warm hospitality of her students. She often described those two years as "among the best of her life."
After returning to the U.S., she and Ward managed Rebel House, a 50-unit apartment complex in Las Vegas. She was grateful for godly employers and considered it a mission field. She also became an active member of her church community and served from 2002 to 2006 on the Nevada-Utah Conference Executive Committee. In 2007, as Carolyn and Ward prepared to retire to Idaho, she was diagnosed with breast cancer - a challenge she met with deep faith and quiet courage. She found strength through surgery, natural healing programs, and a renewed commitment to health and hope. She would go on to survive breast cancer for nearly 20 years, a testament to both medical care and spiritual trust.
In 2012, she faced another trial: a significant stroke, followed by a diagnosis of renal failure. Despite these challenges, she continued to live a life of grace and gratitude. After Ward's passing, in 2013 she accepted an invitation to live with her daughter Stefanie and son-in-law Curt. In her final days, Carolyn chose her own healthcare partnering with her trusted physician Haley Minnehan and nephrologist Scott Beiber. She showed us what it means to trust, to love, and to leave this world with hope shining brighter than sorrow. After a lifetime of joys and sorrows, tribulation and triumph, she entered palliative - or "comfort" - care not in fear, but in peace, her heart fixed on the promise she held so dear: that this life is not the end. Carolyn believed - deeply and unwaveringly - that there is a better life beyond the grave. She trusted in the words of Scripture: that one day soon, the dead in Christ will rise at the sound of the trumpet, awakened not to more pain, but to everlasting joy. This hope wasn't just theological to her; it was personal. It shaped how she lived as a mother, sister, grandmother, and friend - and how she let go. She filled her life - and ours - with kindness. She sent encouraging magazines, books, cards, and little surprises that always arrived just when we needed them. She prayed for us when we didn't even know we needed prayer. She was the one who remembered birthdays and lived her faith not loudly, but faithfully, day by day. Her love was steadfast.
When the time came to say goodbye, we didn't fight it. Those who couldn't be with her in person called and assured her of their love. We sang to her, held her hands, and told her over and over how much she meant to us. She passed peacefully, surrounded by love, as a piano and cello duet of It Is Well With My Soul streamed through the room. It was exactly how she wanted it - no machines, no artificial interventions. Just peace. Her choice for palliative care gave us the space to stop battling death and start honoring her life. It gave us the gift of presence - to simply be with her as she prepared for what she believed was not the end but hope for the day when she will be called from the grave to a beginning of a life more beautiful than "we can ask or imagine".
Carolyn leaves behind a legacy of compassion, wisdom, and deep faith. She is preceded in death by husband Ward Drollinger, daughter Stacy Myers, and son Robert Drollinger.
She is survived by her remaining children Michael (Renae) Drollinger, Molly Drollinger (Robert's surviving wife), Stefanie (Curt) Brimacomb, Laural (Darrell) Bates; and Doug (Megan) Drollinger; grandchildren Nova, Chris, Chris, Kenneth Wade, Nevada, Sara, Joshua, Constantine, Casandra, Monica, Danny, and Brianna, 11 great-grandchildren, sister Evelyn Kantymir and brother Dr. Robert Bird, and many dear friends. And though we grieve, we do not grieve without hope. We look forward, as she did, to that great reunion promised by the Savior she loved.
Until that day, we will remember her as she truly was: gracious, faithful, kind - and already missed beyond words.
A celebration of life will be held September 27, 2025 at 2:00 pm at the Grangeville Seventh Day Adventist Church. A graveside service will follow at a private cemetery near Lucile. Arrangements are under the direction of the Blackmer Funeral Home, Grangeville. Send condolences to the family at blackmerfuneralhome.com.
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