Carolyn Sweitzer

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard” Winne the Pooh. Carolyn (Pee Wee) Sweitzer is that something to so many of us. Born to Preal Sanders and Cardillia Franklin, she was brought home in a shoe box on August 11, 1953, and began life in a small body and with a brave soul.

Carolyn found love at the sweet age of 17, and married her high school sweetheart, Fred Sweitzer when she was just 18 years old. When most of us where trying to figure out how to boil water at that age, Carolyn and Fred where beginning their life long adventures. They moved to many different places, with Texas being Carolyn’s happy place. She was a blonde-haired beauty on the beach, Fred’s “Dolly”. Carolyn often laughed behind Fred’s back when he became irritated sand was getting in his tuna fish sandwich. Perhaps she did this on purpose, because she was always looking for a good laugh. Her “off- color” sense of humor would make any mundane day, brighter and cheerful. Carolyn also enjoyed riding in the family boat and lifting all of the equipment into the boat herself, because, in her own words “a woman can do anything a man can do”. She would boast when she would outfish Fred. Perhaps Fred, let her outfish him on purpose, because his soul purpose in life was to always put a smile on Carolyn’s face.

Carolyn was a collector of many things. She loved to collect scary porcelain dolls and clowns that would terrify her daughter’s friends during sleep overs. Her most prized collection, was the collection of memories. She adored spending time with her sisters and her brothers Larry and Al at Bear Lake, where her parents had a home. Here she would stay up until all hours of the night, talking to her sister “Chatty Kathy”. Carolyn looked forward to the sun and water at Pine View Reservoir, with her twin sister Marilyn. Carolyn and Marilyn shared such a bond, that both their husbands understood their role as second place. When Carolyn was passing, her family knew she would see Marilyn, and they felt a sense of peace knowing the twins would be together again, and that Marilyn would easily fall back into the role of Carolyn’s protector. Carolyn loved to take trips to Wendover with her sisters and was all giggles when putting a quarter into a slot machine. She enjoyed the Arizona desert with her sisters Brenda, Star and Marilyn, traveling many miles for water, and growing “happy plants”. Carolyn loved listening to Jelly Roll, who she often called tootsie roll by mistake, and listening to her sister Rita play the Ukulele. She got her first tattoo at the age of 40. Her tattoos represented those in her life she loved, and Carolyn always loved deeply. Carolyn loved to kayak at Jensen Park with her family. With age, came the difficulty of being able to engage in the things she loved, but she never stopped “going on a drive” with Fred. When things got hard, together, they would drive. Together with Fred, was where Carolyn found comfort and solitude.

Carolyn often said, she “just wanted to just be a mom”. She was never “just a mom”, to her three daughters. She was everything to them. As time moved forward and her daughters grew up, Carolyn became everything to her nine grandchildren. Carolyn never passed up on an opportunity to take care of her grandchildren, often telling them “just don’t tell your mother”, because it hurt every bone in her body to tell them “no”, or to see them hurting.

If you inquired about Carolyn’s height she would say, with conviction, she was five feet tall. Everyone knew she stood a little over 4 feet 11 inches, but we knew better than to argue her truth. What she lacked in height, she made up for in strength, spunk and a heart the size of Texas.

Carolyn is survived by her husband Fred Sweitzer; three daughters: Shantell (Rob) Gillman, Mindy, and Lacie (Leo) Paxton. She was blessed with nine beautiful grandchildren: CJ (Analisa), Kyler, Bella, Ethan, Aubree, Jaxson, Elaina, Aiden, and Kierra; her siblings:  Brenda Sherwood, Kathy (Brent) Adams, Starr Finch; her brothers in laws: Kevin Bigham and Scott and Dave Sweitzer and sister in law, Linda Burk. Carolyn is also survived by many friends and family who love her dearly. 

Carolyn is preceded in death by: her parents, her mother and father-in-law, Clyde and Dorothy Sweitzer; her twin sister, Marilyn Bigham; sister, Rita Moore; Brothers: Larry and Al; brothers-in-law; Steve Sherwood, Kerry Finch and Ray Moore and sisters-in-law, Janice and Mary Sanders .

A celebration of life will be May 7, 2025, 5-9 pm at Jensen Park, 3176 S Bluff Rd Syracuse, Utah