Carolyn Dempsey Mitchell, was born September 26, 1938, to Paul and Mildred Dempsey of Nez Perce, Idaho, and died on Bainbridge Island, WA, August 27, 2025. She was a brilliant student, valedictorian of her high school and one of the top 15 seniors in college. She graduated from the University of Idaho with a BS in chemistry in 1960. At the end of her sophomore year she married William Mitchell, and together they embarked on graduate careers at the University of Washington, he in medicine and she in biochemistry. She received her PhD in 1965. The next year she, her husband, and two young children (William and Margaret) joined the Peace Corps, and spent the next two years in Ethiopia, where she taught medical students at the Haile Selassie Medical College.

That marriage ended in divorce in 1971. From 1968 to 1982 Carolyn worked on cholesterol research for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Washington, what she considered her dream job. In 1975, Carolyn married Alan Miller, a (temporarily) unemployed scholar of comparative religion. In 1976, their daughter Anne was born. When Alan secured a tenured position at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Carolyn unselfishly gave up her own career and followed him “back east.” When grant money dried up at Miami University where she had been working in the Botany department, Carolyn went back to school and earned a BS in nursing. She then worked in nursing homes in Oxford and on Bainbridge for some years. She and Alan retired to their 2 ½ acres on Bainbridge in 2000. In 2017 she suffered a stroke that left her partially paralyzed.

Carolyn was an accomplished weaver, an experimenter in natural dyes, an excellent cook, and a devoted mother to her three children. She left many afghans, area rugs, pillows, garments and wall-hangings as testimony to her passion for fiber arts. Although she had much professional success, Carolyn always put her family first. She was a strong person, and faced death as she faced life, with courage and compassion. She is survived by her husband of 50 years, daughters Peg and Anne, and two grandchildren. She was pre-deceased by her son Bill in 2007. Go on ahead, dear one, we will catch you up.