Member Spotlight
Carolyn Gautier

January 29, 2017

Carolyn Gautier was born in Chicago. Her father was in law school at Loyola University, and met her mother at an anti-communist rally. She has two sisters in Texas, a brother and sister in Chicago, and a brother and sister in California. There were originally nine children, of whom seven are still with us today. Her family was raised Catholic and always tells the story of when her father was dying, and Carolyn hadn’t been to church in a while. She felt compelled to get a priest to administer last rites for her father. It was the middle of the night, but she went to the church, knocked on the door, and asked the man who answered, “Are you a priest?” He said yes, and she asked him to come say last rites for her father. He agreed, and only later they found out that he was the pope’s emissary, at the church for a temporary time. Carolyn had gotten the emissary of the pope out of bed for her father. It’s that kind of dedication and loyalty that makes Carolyn such a good friend.

Carolyn worked and retired from AT&T after 25 years. She then worked in Austin for 2.5 years as a medical claims analyst, doing Medicaid claims for 99 counties. She retired in November, but may continue to do work for them from home. She liked the way her job was a puzzle, and she had to find the anomaly to finish the claim. She enjoyed the people she worked with, she could wear jeans, and they had good coffee. What could be better?

Recently, Carolyn and her sister purchased a duplex together in Gauthier, Mississippi. The town was founded by her great-grandfather. Mississippi is kind to seniors and seems like a good place to retire, but Carolyn wasn’t really intending to buy property there. This duplex just popped up, and the price and layout was just too good to resist. She is in the process of moving there, but she promises to come visit often.

Carolyn has been a member of the church for six years. She started by going to the Sunday School class led by Mitch and Lisa Drummond. She was most impressed when Mitch and Glynn Tucker got into an argument, but later they remained friends. Glynn, in particular, loves to banter back and forth with Carolyn but when the chips are down, he is there for her. He once came over in the middle of the night to help her get her lights turned back on. And once when she totaled her car, Debi Tucker met her at the police station to take her home. She has many friends at the church and counts Shirley Ball and Linda Clevenger as very dear women friends.

Her favorite hymn is Amazing Grace. Just hearing the hymn makes her cry every time. She loves the story of how it’s written, and that the song talks about redemption and renewal.

Her friends would describe her as funny and telling lots of funny stories. Many have told her to write a book. She really likes children, and has lots of nieces and nephews she enjoys. She is very close to her family. She’s easy going and grateful, and she takes nothing for granted. “I don’t worry because God has control,” she says. As for flaws, she does admit she will procrastinate.

Long before Carolyn came to Taylor, she had always enjoyed doing an artistic signature that includes a duck. Quite the coincidence! She loves to play games and especially darts.

Carolyn has fun all the time, and especially had fun one time when she went to China with some friends. They were on a double decker bus and ended up in the bus garage! They all just started laughing. The bus driver didn’t understand why they were laughing and, not speaking English, didn’t know how to help. They ended up taking a bus to the airport, calling the hotel, and getting a shuttle from there. They were just in hysterics.