Carol Clinton, of South Waldoboro, died at her home on Feb. 20.
Born in Waco, Tex. on April 29, 1951, she was the daughter of Sam Houston Clinton Jr. and Elaine Swanholm Clinton. She grew up in Texas but also spent time in Maine, where she eventually made her home and raised her two children. She was fully suited to Maine, with a strong sense of honesty and fairness, a fierce independence, a quirky sense of humor, and a penchant for frugality.
To sustain her lifelong reputation as a “rebel,” she would proudly cite her expulsion from Georges Valley High School in the late 1960s for wearing skirts that the administration deemed too short, or marrying her first husband, Ronnie Mattingly, only days after turning 18. A child of the times, she and Ronnie traveled from Texas to Maine in a painted school bus.
She would return to Texas to attend the University of Texas at Austin, from which she graduated in 1976 with a degree in psychology and social work. The same year, she was accepted into a graduate program at the University of Michigan. She relocated to Ann Arbor with the man who would become her second husband, Brian Willson.
Shortly after the birth of their daughter, Sarah, the couple moved to Long Cove in St. George. Carol was hired as a caseworker with the state’s Child Protective Services division and would rise to the role of supervisor. She was deeply concerned about the children she helped to save from abuse and neglect, and she remained with the department for 16 years. Carol married her third husband, Paul Storer, in 1986, and together they raised a son, Evan, at their old farmhouse in South Waldoboro.
After the marriage ended and her children had left the nest, Carol continued to live in the house she loved at the end of a long driveway in a quiet pine grove. The sanctuary she labored for years to build was lost in a house fire in 2013, and she relocated to another home on the property. Despite the efforts of family, friends, and generous and caring neighbors, as well as her tenacious spirit, her health continued to deteriorate. Carol was one of a kind, and she will be missed.
Carol was predeceased by her mother and father.
She is survived by children, Sarah Willson of Los Angeles, Calif., and Evan Storer of Tokyo, Japan; half brothers, Keith Shortall of Thomaston, Sam Clinton of San Francisco, Calif., and Scot Clinton of Houston, Tex.; and half sister, Lindsay Clinton of New York, N.Y.
A celebration of Carol’s life will be held at 12 p.m., Sat., March 7 at the Federated Church in Thomaston.
Donations in her memory may be made to New Hope for Women, P.O. Box A, Rockland, ME 04841.
To share condolences online please visit www.hallfuneralhomes.com
Services are entrusted to Hall’s of Waldoboro.
