Carolina Lydia (Leach) Upton

Carolina Lydia (Leach Upton was born on January 30th, 1952 in Bunch, OK, the daughter of Watt and Annie (Bendabout) Leach. There were two sisters and one brother as well, Henry Leach, Marie Leach Flynn, Fannie Leach James and Georgeanna Leach Hooper. Hungry mountain was always home, and Carolina attended school at Tenkiller, and upon graduating, attended rainbow University and Bacone, where she showed interest in Nursing. She worked for over 35 years at WW Hastings Hospital as a Sanitation Technician. She loved people and always took time to share her smile with everyone she came across. When she went home, she went straight home to the family she loved and cooked the most amazing meals, and there wasn’t anything she couldn’t cook. Her kitchen was a place of happiness and family togetherness. It was here memories were made, sorrows were shared and cookies were baked for generations. There was nothing she enjoyed more than going fishing, attending a weekend yard sale, picking wild onions, writing out recipes, doing word search puzzles and doing the family ancestry. She liked to go out to the garden and raise tomatoes and beautiful onions. There were two wonderful fur babies, a Boston Terrier named Brandi and a Schnauzer named Furball. The love they had for each other was mutual and knew no bounds. She loved her precious grandchildren and great grandchildren, and the holidays were always a lot of fun and festivities, and hours of Monopoly and Yahtzee, or even watching an old rerun of “Perry Mason!” She had a beautiful smile, and could share a laugh. Her ability to make you feel loved, wanted and cherished was daily with Carolina. She took care of everyone she knew and some she didn’t. She lost her husband in 2022, and she struggled to find her smile. Before long, she relied on the family she knew could pull her through. Her health failed her and Carolina passed from this life on April 19th, 2024 in Tahlequah, OK, surrounded by those that knew and loved her. She was 72 years old and will be greatly missed for all the happiness she brought in life.

Carolina is preceded in death by her grandparents, her Mom and Dad, her brother Henry, and sisters, Marie and Fannie, her beloved husband, Freddie Upton, her daughter, Kathleen Zuniga in 2016, her granddaughter, Josephina Colunga, and her two fur baby companions, Brandi and Furball.

Those left to cherish her memory include one son and five daughters, Benjamin Mouse and wife Marcella of Hungry Mountain, Jennifer Adair and husband Bobby of Tahlequah, Esther Mouse and Cody Girdner of Hungry Mountain, Carilla Hernandez and husband Martin of Okmulgee, and Priscilla Mouse and husband Daniel Bales of Hungry Mountain. She leaves one sister, Georganna Hooper of Tahlequah, OK. Carolina lives on in her beloved grandchildren, Jayda Hernandez and husband Oscar, both of Texas, Jacie Pantoja and husband Paco of McCurtain, OK, Kyle Fields and Kody Fields both of Bunch, Crystal Jones and husband Chad, Dawn Mouse, Jessica Mouse, Emberly Mouse, all of Tahlequah, Ebaristo Mata and wife Mariah, and Jasper Angeles and wife Tara both of Muskogee, Jasmine Angeles of Hungry Mountain, David Mouse and wife Casey, and Darrenn Mouse and wife Shelly both of Tahlequah, Dasha Mouse and husband Cody of Claremore, Derrick Morgado, Junior Thompson, Shawndell Morgado, and Maria Hernandez all of Okmulgee, Franklin Mouse, Shawnda Mouse, Evan Bales, Kyra Mouse and Carmen Gonzalez all of Hungry Mountain. She also leaves 41 great-grandchildren, many great-great-grandchildren, as well as many nieces, nephews, cousins and a host of friends and oved ones too numerous to mention.

Funeral services for Carolina Lydia (Leach) Upton will be conducted Monday, April 29th, 2024 at 11:30 AM at Reed-Culver Funeral Home. The family will host a Wake service to honor their mother at the home of Priscilla Mouse in Bunch, OK, on Saturday, April 27th, 2024 beginning at 12:00 PM until 6:00 PM. She will be laid to rest at Ft. Gibson National Cemetery with her husband Freddie Wayne Upton.