Carol Ellingson was a devourer of experiences and a collector of skills and knowledge from an early age. In elementary school she skipped a grade in her rush to learn.  A Master’s degree in theater from the University of Minnesota led to her founding and owning a dinner theater, three years as leading lady at the Stagecoach Opera House, a summer as musical director on the Showboat and a trip to Hollywood to become a star. In Hollywood she learned her background only qualified her for endless rounds of auditions and a spot or two in commercials.

Carol switched course and went to Harvard Law School, then practiced labor and employment law in a multi-national firm in St. Paul. She spent her free time acting in local musicals, including staring roles as Annie Oakley in Girl of the Golden West and Mrs. Lovett in Sweeny Todd.

She delighted all who knew her by breaking into show tunes, particularly those a bit off-color or ghoulish, such a Mrs. Lovett’s lines about baking men into meat pies which she sang with gusto thirty-five years ago on her second date with Richard Bend, her soon to be husband. She failed to scare him off, instead acquiring a constant and perpetually entranced audience.

Carol generally managed what she set out to do on the first try; retiring was different. Having taken a six-month sabbatical from the firm in her mid-forties to write plays, two of which were produced, she decided she did not want to go back to practicing fulltime. At first, the firm allowed her to be a part time partner but soon asked her to return full-time which did not appeal.

Her husband, Richard, offered her an office in his small law practice where she could write plays and practice law a little or not at all. She leapt at the opportunity. To her surprise, many large Twin Cities clients opted to come with her. Busier than ever, she practiced law, continued writing and found time to earn a second master’s degree, this time in creative writing.

A later, second retirement attempt was successful, allowing her to devote time to her first set of grandchildren, Isabelle and Luke. Carol loved sewing clothes for her grandchildren, eventually numbering five, and quilting.

Carol was a lifelong runner delighting in canoe trips and backpacking, particularly long European mountain hikes with Richard.  They completed many hikes in the Alps in Austria, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland, including her favorite, the Chamonix to Zermatt Hoch route, a hut-to-hut trip of over one hundred miles, which they completed twice. She was happily hiking in the Canadian Rockies with Richard a month before her brain tumor diagnosis.

In her 60s and 70s, Carol loved working out at the Hudson YMCA and running or hiking in Belwin Nature Conservancy. She was very consistent, especially for two years when she never missed a day, winters included, on the Belwin trails with her English Cocker, Spark.

Carol is survived by her husband of thirty-three years, Richard Bend, brothers Chester Ellingson III and Robert Ellingson, nieces Kari Ellingson and Jenny Harms and their children, and adoring step-children Heather Warzecha, Jennifer Bend and May Bend, along with her grandchildren Isabelle and Luke Warzecha, Oskar and Audrey Doyle and Hazel Bend. Carol’s parents, Sarah Ellingson and Chester Ellingson, Jr., predeceased her.

A celebration of Carol’s life will be held at Belwin Nature Conservancy in Afton at 2:00pm on September 16, 2023. Please send any anecdotes, memories, or stories you have of Carol to rbend@bendellingson.com. Selections will be read at the celebration.

Please send memorials to Belwin Nature Conservancy, 1553 Stagecoach Trail S., Afton, MN 55001 or to the Hudson YMCA, 2211 Vine St., Hudson, WI 54016.