Carol Austin Hughes

Carol Austin Hughes died peacefully in her sleep in Chesapeake, Virginia on February 19, 2018 at the age of 80 years old. Carol was born on August 23, 1937 to D.S. “Johnnie” and Alice Johnson Austin in Fort Worth, Texas where she grew up. She is the oldest sister of Stanley, Jimmy (Betty), Jackie (Cecil), Norma, Johnnie (Gina), Stuart (Sherry) and the late Allen Austin. Her love for her brothers, sisters, their spouses and the extended Austin family was literally bigger than Texas.

Carol was the widow of Charles Edward Hughes, Jr. who died in 2014. From 1960 to 2014, they lived in a pink brick house on Susquehanna Drive in Virginia Beach. Together, they raised 4 children: Kelli, Daniel (Lisa), Andrew (Jenny) and Gena. Carol and Charlie were proud of their grandchildren Kristina, Justin (Natalie), Tyler, Sara, Ellie, Cooper and twins Andy and Kady. Additionally, their great grandchildren Samantha, Gannon and Serenity were their joy. Family was their greatest treasure and the driving focus for the majority of their lives. Carol and Charlie also raised 4 grandchildren as their own. Carol extended her love to the partners and spouses of her children, both past and present.

Carol graduated from Handley High School in Fort Worth, Texas. She later attended Atlantic Christian College (renamed Barton College) in Wilson, North Carolina where she earned her Bachelor of Education degree. She met her future husband of 53 ½ years, Charlie Hughes of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, who attended the same college. She met other lifelong friends that would become close as family: Joanne & Tommy, Jackie & Roger, Elaine & Rudy, Ted & Thurla, Kaoru & his daughter Tomoko and many others.

It is almost impossible to convey the impact that Carol had on the lives of the people she touched. Carol’s heart had an endless supply of compassion, empathy, insight, sympathy and love. She freely shared these gifts with those that knew her, and also with complete strangers. Carol took the time to get to know people, and she had a life fulfilled with deep and meaningful friendships. Carol opened her home to family, friends and those in need. Many people besides her children have claimed that Carol was like a mother to them.

Over the years, Carol volunteered for Meals on Wheels, Soup Kitchens, Arrowhead Elementary School PTA and Leigh Memorial Hospital. Carol donated money to her favorite charities supporting those in need wherever they might be.

Besides a loving heart, Carol was a gifted conversationalist and writer. Anyone who experienced her stories knew that she had a great love of words and an attention to detail. Carol could have easily been a reporter with her descriptions of events making readers feel like they were there. Many of us enjoyed her epic emails and beautifully handwritten letters that always seemed to arrive at precisely the right moment to uplift our spirits. Carol’s tireless efforts of maintaining lifelong friendships may never be fully known… unless we look at her phone records, hundreds of letters, cards and emails.

Carol, Charlie and their young family spent their summers of the 1970s at Camp Chanco on the James, a camp for the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia located in Surry, Virginia. Even if Charlie was the “Chief” that everyone knew, Carol worked quietly behind the scenes supporting her husband and the camp staff. Carol acted as the reporter, organizer, book keeper, string-puller, confidant, triage nurse and mother to many counselors and campers alike. She and Charlie remained actively engaged with the Chanco family of counselors and campers, and they considered them all “their Chanco children.” The names are too numerous to list here, but you know who you are. Last summer, she finally fulfilled her life-long dream of being inducted into the “Order of Chanco.”

Carol had different jobs throughout her life including working as a secretary at the FBI during the J. Edgar Hoover years, an elementary school teacher, a trainer/supervisor in customer service for Thalhimers and later Hechts department stores. The years working in those stores provided many dear friends with whom she was still in touch.

Carol’s calling was to be a mother to all who needed it. Whether it was a diaper change, a life lesson, a pep talk, a cry on the shoulder, an open ear, an infectious laugh or a little financial help, Carol was there to nurture and teach her children. If a single word could be used to describe Carol, it would be selfless. She demonstrated this time after time asking more about you than she would tell about herself. Her putting others before herself was the ultimate symbol of her love, and her faith in God.

In the years following her husband’s passing, Carol made many new friends in her apartment complex, where she felt at home. A special thank you to Edie, who was a dear friend, and the staff at The Reserve at Greenbrier.

While Carol’s passing leaves a void in the hearts of all that loved her, we are proud of the life that she lived and the time that she spent with each of us. We choose to not mourn for the loss of our mother and friend, but instead rejoice in the knowledge that she will be reunited with the

“love of her life”, Charlie, her loving parents, and all her friends and relatives who passed before her. We know she is smiling at us from heaven.

A celebration of Carol’s life will be held on Saturday, March 10, 2018 at 1:00 p.m. at Rosewood-Kellum Funeral Home, 601 North Witchduck Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23462. The interment service will be held at a later date for family members.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Camp Chanco. Please make checks payable to Chanco on the James with “in memory of Carol Hughes” in the memo. Mail to Chanco at 394 Floods Drive, Spring Grove, VA 23881. Or you may make an easy online donation here: https://chanco.org/chanco-capital-campaign. Simply click “give now” and in the notation write “in memory of Carol Hughes”.