Carol Susan Wood

Carol was born September 1, 1953 in Vallejo, California to George Bruce and Jeanette Ann Casten.  George was in heavy construction, so the family moved many times around California while working on road, bridge and dam projects.  The family was in Tracy, California when Carol started high school (her 14th school) and was able to attend all 3 years and graduate from Tracy High School in 1971. 

After HS she worked for her father’s company while attending college classes in Stockton, California.  She married Bruce Forth in 1972, and along with her family moved to Denver, Colorado where her father’s construction company was building the North-South runway at Stapleton International Airport (this was the runway that went over the top of I70).

After divorcing in 1973, Carol moved north to Windsor Colorado, and got a job at the Eastman Kodak Company, where she met her future husband, Kelley.  They were married in 1980 in Incline Village at Lake Tahoe, Nevada.  Carol and Kelley then began a very long and wild ride around the country.  Carol went to Seattle Washington to attend Travel School and became a travel agent, working first for Rocky Mountain Airways at Stapleton and then for Aggie Travel in Fort Collins.  Kelley was assigned to a project at Kodak that took him around the world (with Carol as his travel agent), but after a couple of years it was too much stress on the family so Kelley accepted an assignment to Rochester, NY for a year.  After that, Kelley went back to Colorado State University and after graduating he and Carol moved to San Jose California where Kelley worked for Hewlett Packard and Carol was a corporate travel agent for Rosenbluth travel.  Never to let moss grow, the couple ended back up in Longmont Colorado for a year with Carol managing a travel agency, and Kelley working for a Boulder company.

Back to California in 2001, where Carol worked as the Manager for the local YMCA’s senior program and Kelley for a division of the Nielsen (TV Ratings) company.  2004 took them to Tampa Florida, where Carol retired and began doing volunteer work.  First she worked for Make-A-Wish, then later formed a 501©(3) [4Hearts.org) with 3 other friends and ran fundraisers to help those less fortunate.

In 2013 the couple moved to Brooksville, FL and Carol began to get involved with the local garden club.  Then they took a break and Kelley’s last work assignment took them to Denver, Colorado for 2-1/2 years where they spent tons of time with family and friends.  Kelley’s retirement came in 2017, and they moved back to Brooksville, FL where Carol resumed and expanded her garden club activity, joining not only the Brooksville, but the Floral City Garden Club and getting involved with the Florida Federation of Garden Club’s Wekiva Youth Camp and S.E.E.K. youth environmental conference.  She also served in Chairmanship capacities as S.E.E.K registrar and as Awards Sponsorship Chair.

At the time of her death, Carol was the President of the Floral City Garden Club, Secretary of FFGC District 5, Chairman of the 2022 and 2023 FFGC State Conventions, Registrar for the National Garden Club Convention, and served on the FFGC Executive Board as Corresponding Secretary.

She is preceded in death by her parents, George and Jeanette Casten and survived by her husband, Kelley; sister, Cathi Gosselin of Highlands Ranch, Colorado; brother, Cliff Casten of Vacaville, California; stepchildren, Doug (Stefanie) Wood of Wellington Colorado and Kendra (Ryan) Hoy of Sparks, Nevada; grandchild, Riley; step-grandchildren, Katie, Megan, and Harrison; step-great-grandchildren, Millie and Harper; and numerous nieces and nephews across the country.

A celebration of life is being planned for October of this year at Kelley and Carol’s home in Brooksville, more details will be available later in the year.

Kelley respectfully asks that no flowers or food be sent. Instead, please consider a donation be made to Wekiva Youth Camp where Carol volunteered each summer.  

Checks may be made payable and mailed to:

Wekiva Youth Camp

FFGC Treasurer Jana Walling

2121 Olivia Drive

Tallahassee, FL 32308-6164

On bottom line, “For Carol”

ARRANGEMENTS BY

MERRITT FUNERAL HOME

BROOKSVILLE, FLORIDA

(352)796-6699

"Family Owned & Operated"

www.merrittfuneral.com