William George Carolan, an engineer who in midlife changed careers and embarked upon a Brady Bunch-like adventure of enlarging his family of five children to ten, died peacefully at his home at McCrite Plaza at Briarcliff in Kansas City, on June 20, 2023, surrounded by family.
He was 85. The cause was complications related to cancer.
Bill lived a rich life, full of love for family that expressed itself again midlife when he met and married his second wife, who moved with her five children across the street from him in 1982.
Bill was born July 24, 1937, at Frankford Hospital in Philadelphia, the second of three sons born to Walter Charles Carolan and Verna Mae Rose, both of Philadelphia. He was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Frankford.
His wife, Diane E. Carolan, of Prairie Village, daughter, Melanie Ann Van Dyke, of Healdsburg, CA, and brothers, Robert John Carolan and Walter Charles Carolan, Jr., both of Kansas City, predeceased him.
Named William for his mother’s uncle and his grandfather, he was of Irish, British, German and Scottish extraction.
The family moved to Chicago and then Kansas City in 1941. Bill graduated Southwest High School and attended the University of Kansas where he was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. His mother died of cancer his freshman year.
He received a mechanical engineering degree in 1960. He went to work in Tiffin, OH, where his appendix burst and he endured several surgeries. He returned home to work as a draftsman at Burns & McDonnell before becoming vice-president of the family engineering firm, W.C. Carolan Company, Inc., representatives in industrial machinery and material handling manufacturers.
He soon helped move the business into engineering solutions for electric utility companies that transferred coal from railroad cars. With his brother, he established a second company in 1968, Dust Suppression Systems, Inc.
He married his first wife, Connie Jean Felt, of Salem, MO, daughter of Charles Woodrow Felt and “Trudy” Lineberry, both of Mendon, MO, on December 1, 1961, at the Country Club United Methodist Church and honeymooned in Hawaii. They raised five children in the Country Club District: Nancy Nicole, Michael Charles, Melissa Diane, Melanie Ann and Kent Steven.
Bill instilled his great love of nature in his children by acquiring a farm in the Ozarks in 1972 where the family spent weekends and holidays, having homemade Christmases, fishing, canoeing and playing upon the bluffs overlooking the Niangua River. He liked to travel, taking the family to places including South Padre Island, Colorado, Kitty Hawk, Washington DC, New Orleans, Spain and North Africa. His hobbies included camping, fishing, reading, gardening and photography.
In 1979, after his divorce, Bill left the family business, invested in real estate around the City and moved the family to the Corinth Meadows neighborhood of Prairie Village.
He married Diane Elizabeth Baker, daughter of the Owen George Ira and Elizabeth “Betty” Mantel, both of Kansas City, KS, at Old Mission United Methodist Church on August 1, 1982. Diane’s children are Elizabeth “Beth” Lynn, Kathleen “Kathy” Ann, Michael Cole, Jennifer Leigh and Amy Sue.
The couple promptly loaded their blended family into two vans and headed for a two-bedroom, Colorado cabin for the honeymoon. To secure their only private time for the next three decades, money was thrown at the 10 teenagers for the amusement park across the road. Afterward, the family went on many adventures from Silver Dollar City to white water rafting on the Colorado River.
All of Bill’s children joined the “trades” early in life when they were wrangled into maintenance labor at Bill’s apartment properties. His favorite payment was to take a break himself and purchase lunches at McDonald’s or Wendy’s or Slurpees and Big Gulps for his juvenile laborers.
Coin-operated laundry machines at several properties supplied the children with a consistent source of lunch money, which Bill lined up on the breakfast room table each school morning.
Bill’s signature dish was the Bologna Bake, a casserole composed of cans of baked beans, slices of American cheese and cut-up hot dogs or bologna. Thankfully, the children didn’t starve since Diane prepared a variety of delicious home-made meals. The unwritten rule of the roost was that if you weren’t at the table promptly when dinner was called, there would be no food left for you.
His fleet of vehicles included Jeeps, Ford vans, pickup trucks, Aerostar, Subaru, station wagons and Buicks. No need went unmet as Bill was an expert craftsman, problem-solver, auto mechanic, carpenter, plumber, electrician and all-around gizmo engineer. One year, his youngest asked for a horn for New Year’s Eve and he immediately devised and constructed a device that performed loud and clear for all the neighborhood to hear. Their home was full of love, laughter and prayer. He joined the Old Mission United Methodist Church and remained active with Diane in choir and Pathfinders.
Bill returned to engineering in 1992 with Foley Company as a project engineer. He worked for Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Company, including designing HVAC systems for the Federal Aviation Administration. He retired in 2004.
When their youngest finally left home, it took Bill and Diane at least a year to prepare meals for 2 rather than 10. Dad never did let Diane get rid of both washers and dryers, nor the extra refrigerator, which eventually was moved to the basement. Missing their needy brood, they obtained a Bichon Frisé, Owie, who has outlived them both. Diane died on April 16, 2013.
Late in life, Bill enjoyed visiting his East Coast children and grandchildren often, including his mother’s family, the Roses, on Long Beach Island, NJ, where he spent many a childhood summer.
Bill was, if anything, always positive in the midst of challenges. He had a rare genetic disorder and survived four cancers, heart problems and the Spanish flu during the Pandemic, to name a few.
When asked this year for the secret to a long life, he said, “Family, Faith and Love of God.”
In 2021, Bill said goodbye to Prairie Village and moved into McCrite Plaza at Briarcliff in North Kansas City where he made many new friends.
He leaves behind his children: Nancy Carolan, Virginia Beach, VA; Michael Carolan, Dwight, MA; Melissa Gouffray, Alexandria, VA; and Kent Carolan, Kansas City; stepchildren: Beth Wiebe, Branson; Kathy Baker, Olathe; Michael Baker and Jenny Slusser, Tonganoxie; and Amy Wilson, Olathe; first wife Connie Amireh, of Kansas City; ten grandchildren, twelve step grandchildren, four step-great-grandchildren, two nieces, two nephews and ten first cousins.
Video of Memorial Service
https://vimeo.com/839453400/7383fddc63
