Carolyn Maxwell Hinton

Carolyn Emons Maxwell Hinton, a precious and beautiful woman, wife, mother, stepmother, grandmother, aunt and cousin, passed away on July 16, 2025 at age 92 at a residential care home in Santa Rosa, CA, shortly following a visit there by her entire immediate family.
Carolyn was born in Alton, Illinois on October 20, 1932, the daughter of Bernice and Dr. Clifford Emons. She is survived by her husband, James (Jim) Hinton, daughter Lesley Maxwell of Amesbury, MA, son Richard Maxwell Jr. of Santa Rosa, stepson Paul Hinton and his wife Vanessa Hinton of Sunnyvale, stepdaughter Laura Leary and her husband Michael Leary of San Anselmo, grandsons Ryan Leary, Jeremy Leary, and Gabriel Leary, all living and working in New York City, granddaughter Amanda Wood and her mother Corinne Wood of Forestville, and nieces and nephews and their families in Illinois, Florida and South Carolina.
Carolyn grew up in Alton, Illinois. She graduated from Alton High School where she was the first ever female student body president. She went to Monmouth College for two years and then transferred to University of Illinois where she earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in speech and language pathology. Following graduation, she became a speech and language counselor at Arlington Heights (Illinois) High School and later a clinical speech and language pathologist at the University of Minnesota Hospital for several years. She left her midwestern roots and moved to California in about 1958, via three months of kitchen employment and skiing at Sun Valley, and became employed as a speech and language pathologist at Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco. She then began private practice in Santa Rosa after moving there in 1960.
She married attorney Richard (Dick) Maxwell in 1960. He died in 1985 after 25 years of marriage. Three years later, in June, 1988, she married attorney Jim Hinton and they shared deep love for each other for 37 years until her death. Living life to its fullest, their marriage was adventurous, with separate trips to Canada, Mexico, England, Spain, France, Italy and Sicily, Turkey, a Baltic Sea cruise on their 30th anniversary with stops in Estonia, Finland, Russia and Sweden, to Japan for a Rotary Club International convention, twice to Africa game preserves in six countries, and to Brazil for the wedding of one of their Rotary exchange students. Carolyn and Jim also enjoyed frequent skiing trips to Kirkwood, hiking and back-packing in the Sierra, and golf at Santa Rosa Golf & Country Club where Carolyn was an active 65-year member. Additionally, they loved the Santa Rosa Symphony and attended virtually every classical music concert since their marriage in 1988. One of her proudest achievements was the melding of her children with Jim's children into a single loving family.
Carolyn was a gifted amateur oil painting artist, and she especially enjoyed weekly group painting sessions with talented women artist friends at a downtown Santa Rosa studio they shared. She also enjoyed weekly group meetings of learning and speaking French with women friends, and for many years she was a member of a women's book group that met monthly. And for 30 years she was the treasurer of Santa Rosa's F.I.S.H. (Friends In Service Here), a dedicated charitable food distribution group. She was also an active member of the Pi Phi sorority in Santa Rosa, arising from her time at Monmouth College and University of Illinois, as well as a woman of faith and long-time member of First Presbyterian Church in Santa Rosa, including a term as a deacon.
At her request, there will not be a celebration of life event. Instead, there was a private grave site service attended by her immediate family. If you wish to make a donation in memory of her life, please consider F.I.S.H. (Friends In Service Here, Santa Rosa), Santa Rosa Symphony, the New Horizons Band of Sonoma County, or any other charitable organization of your choice.