Carol Plimpton

1949 - 2025

News story
By Alex Bracken
Blade staff writer

Carol Plimpton, professor emerita at the University of Toledo and advocate for physical educators across the state, died Jan. 5 in Puerto Rico. She was 75.

Ms. Plimpton became ill during a cruise and was transported to Hospital Universitario de Adultos in San Juan, where she died after emergency surgery. Barbie Shepherd, who called Ms. Plimpton her aunt, said "she died doing what she loved" - traveling.

Her career at Toledo began in 1985, when she was hired as an assistant professor teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses in physical education, specializing in motor development. From 1996 to 2000, she was the chairman of the department of health promotion and human performance, and later the chairman of the department of curriculum and instruction.

Ms. Plimpton impressed upon students her deeply held belief in the importance of physical education and the solemnity of their role in promoting wellness and activity to their own students. Celia Regimbal, a colleague and a close friend, said the two initially bonded over their "common professional philosophy."

"We wanted our students to be known as physical educators and were insistent that they, nor anyone else, could refer to them as a gym teacher," Ms. Regimbal said. "We tried to instill that sense of pride in their position."

Ms. Plimpton brought levity to the UT department through her dry humor and her amusing costumes. Ms. Regimbal recalls her walking through the halls of the department wearing a velvet robe and carrying a scepter, dressed as "the queen of her department."

But she wasn't a monarch, Ms. Regimbal said. She led the department with resolve and a steadfast adherence to her values, which dignified physical education by demanding professionalism and academic excellence from her students, going to extraordinary lengths to support them in their pursuits.

"I would say that her insistence on those qualities were important to the development of a great physical education program at the University of Toledo," Ms. Regimbal said.

Her leadership extended beyond UT, and she promoted health and wellness on the local and state level. She was appointed to the Ohio Advisory Council for Physical Fitness, Wellness, and Sports in 2005 by then-Gov. Bob Taft, and was selected for former Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner's "Get Fit Toledo" committee in 2006, which convened local health professionals to promote wellness initiatives. She was a longtime member of the Ohio Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, serving as president and trustee of the organization.

Despite her wider involvement, Ms. Plimpton's focus never strayed from her students. Her partner, Barb McConnell, said Ms. Plimpton loved them "like they were her own kids."

Those students, some of whom are now nearing the end of their teaching careers, carried her advocacy for physical education to their own classrooms.

Todd Omey has been a physical education teacher at Swanton Middle School for 34 years and will retire at the end of this school year.

"She put me under her wing, and she changed my life," Mr. Omey said. "She was firm, fair, and consistent. When something was due and you didn't do it, you got a bad grade. But if you ever needed help, you could call her late at night and she would help you out."

Michael Boaden, one of Ms. Plimpton's students who teaches at Regina Coeli Catholic School, said her guidance was a constant presence long after he graduated, and she made it clear that she was only a phone call away.

Chrisy Rupp, a physical education teacher at Greenwood Elementary School, said she has spent her entire career trying to continue Ms. Plimpton's work with a new generation of teachers.

"Everything she did and showed me and invested in me, I did the same thing with the [student teachers] that I got, and invested in them," Mrs. Rupp said. "So it kind of went full circle because she was such a good modeler of that."

Ms. Plimpton was born May 14, 1949, in London, Conn., to Kenneth dePau Plimpton, Jr., and Elizabeth (Bull) Harding. She graduated from Russell Sage College in New York in 1971 and received her master's in physical education from Penn State University and her doctorate from Ohio University.

Outside of her career, Ms. Plimpton formed deep friendships with nearly everyone she met. Lucy Shepherd, who also considers Ms. Plimpton to be an aunt, said there isn't really a word to describe the relationships she had with the people she called her family. Despite not being related by blood, her place and investment in their lives transcended far beyond that.

She will be remembered for the time she dedicated to those closest to her: trips to Camp Woodsmoke in Lake Placid, N.Y., with Andrew Shepherd when he was a child, attending Lady Rockets basketball games with Ms. Shepherd, traveling across the world with Ms. McConnell and her many friends, taking trips to the Toledo Zoo with the Shepherd family, playing tennis, and pampering her many dogs and cats. She was a published author, a lover of art and theater, and had a "zest for life," Ms. Regimbal said.

She is survived by her partner, Barb McConnell.

A celebration of life will be May 17, the Saturday following her birthday - a day that Ms. Plimpton cherished and celebrated with vigor each year. Those wishing to participate can email carolremembered517@gmail.com for more details.

Memorial contributions can be made to the Toledo Humane Society or the Martha Carroll Swimming fund through the University of Toledo, which supports people learning to swim.