Carol A. Martin

CAROL A. MARTIN

North Liberty

Carol A. Martin passed away March 20, 2022.

A gathering will be held beginning at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 26, 2022, at Back Berner Bar & Grill in Tiffin. Please come wearing your favorite Hawkeye apparel in remembrance of Carol.

Carol Ann Martin was born to Olive (Brandevold) and Morris Halvorson on May 16, 1945, in Sioux Rapids, Iowa. She grew up in Rembrandt, Iowa, and graduated from Rembrandt High School in 1963. She graduated from Medical Technical School out of St. Paul, Minn., and was a Lab Technician at The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for 35 years until retiring. She also worked part-time at Hancock Fabrics and Joanne Fabrics in Iowa City for many years.

On March 12, 1977, Carol welcomed her daughter, Nicole M. Martin (Wade), who was Carol's pride and joy. Carol worked very hard to provide for Nikki and while she knew she sometimes didn't have a lot, she always knew how to make sure Nikki didn't know she was missing out on anything and made things fun, like breakfast for dinner? Sure thing!

Carol enjoyed bowling at Coral Lanes, even at eight months pregnant she was still at it! On nights when she couldn't get Nikki to sleep she would place her carseat under the pinball machine and the sounds of the pins crashing and falling would lull her baby to sleep!

Carol always was very welcoming to all of Nikki's friends and treated them as if they were her own. One in particular was Nikki's friend since birth, Trilly, whom she fondly referred to as her "other daughter." She was never afraid to discipline in her own way, "Nikki, do we need to take a trip to the bathroom?," with her trigger finger ready to flick. All the parents of Nikki's CCA class friends knew of the kids' shenanigans and were in contact with each other to call them out on their teen BS!

In her retirement, Carol deeply enjoyed sewing and made many memorable projects for those she cared about. She loved sewing so much that she had personalized Hawkeye license plates that said "LUV2SEW". Carol was a very proud, stubborn Norwegian woman and was very interested in her heritage and did extensive research into her genealogy. If you knew Carol, you would often hear her use the phrase "uffda," which was her Norwegian way of telling you what she thought! Carol also loved to make traditional Norwegian dishes, trying to mimic her mother's recipes, though Lutefisk was not one that often made the menu. Carol also loved to bake and often made her famous chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies that always came out perfectly soft and round. At Christmas time Carol loved to make platters with assorted treats, including her delicious spritz cookies, banana bread and pumpkin bread for her friends and family.

Carol was a huge fan of Iowa Hawkeyes basketball and football, her favorite quote was "Born a Hawkeye, Die a Hawkeye." She made it long enough to see the 2022 Iowa Hawkeye Men's Basketball and Iowa Hawkeye Women's Basketball teams both win the Big Ten Championships but did not have to suffer their losses. Nikki takes great peace and comfort in this!

Carol will be so very missed by her many friends, and especially by her daughter, Nikki; her niece, Cindy Weimer (Craig) and their family Josh Warner, Matthew Warner, Donovan Warner, Kaitlin Weimer, Shelby Weimer and Emily Weimer; her nephew, Greg Nielsen and his family Angela Nielsen, Janelle Nielsen and Kyle Nielsen; and her great-great-nieces and great-great-nephew.

Carol was preceded in death by her parents, Olive and Morris Halvorson; and her sister, Sharon Nielsen.