Carol Anne Stolpe

Jun 4, 1936 -

Mar 7, 2026

Carol Anne Stolpe, 89, of Anchorage, Alaska, matriarch of her family and role model to many, passed away on March 7, 2026, after a long battle with cancer. Carol passed away peacefully at home in the arms of her husband, Walter Featherly, and surrounded by her loving family.

Carol was born on June 4, 1936, in Bay City, Mich., to Edward Arthur Courtney and Geraldine Veronica (Hardesty) Courtney. Carol demonstrated her independent spirit early. In 1958, while attending school in Detroit to become a dental hygienist, Carol became engaged to marry a fellow dental student, John Raymond Stolpe. After John graduated with his D.D.S., he took a job with the U.S. Public Health Service, and his first assignment was in Nome, Alaska. Carol and John's plan was to marry the following year when John returned to Michigan. But that plan did not last long. Carol packed her bags, and much to the consternation of her parents, left her home in Saint Clair Shores, Mich., to join John in Nome, where they were married at the St. Joseph Catholic Church. They honeymooned in the nearby community of Teller, the only community connected to Nome by a road.

Nome proved to be just the beginning of Carol's adventures. Over the next 15 years, Carol and John moved nine more times, relocating, in order, to New York City; the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming; Mt. Edgecumbe in Alaska; Anchorage; Aberdeen, S.D.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; back to Aberdeen; Washington, D.C.; and, finally, back to Anchorage in 1973. In the first five of those 15 years, Carol and John had four daughters, which meant that for every one of those cross-country moves, Carol had at least one infant or small child in tow.

Carol was a devoted and engaged mother, and she took a particular interest in her daughters' education. Carol was a frequent presence in her daughters' schools, classrooms and extra-curricular activities, volunteering, supporting and advocating for her daughters' best interests. Later, when their girls were about to enter high school, Carol and John decided that it was time to settle where their girls could all graduate from one high school. They settled on Anchorage, and all four of their daughters graduated from Service High School.

With her girls attending Service High, Carol broadened her education advocacy focus, and she began organizing with other parents at Service High to bring about changes and improvements, not just for her children but for the Service High community. It was during those years that Carol founded "For Parents Only" – a parent support network for parenting teens – and was the Service High School representative to the Anchorage School Board for minority issues.

It is not surprising that Carol's commitment to serving schools and students led her to seek elected office. In 1983, Carol ran for the Anchorage School Board. While she was not successful on her first try, Carol redoubled her efforts, and the next year she won decisively. In her nearly nine years on the Anchorage School Board, Carol continued her strong record of advocacy for Anchorage's students and their parents, teachers and schools, and her successes included serving as a founding member of the Anchorage YWCA, co-founder of the Anchorage School District's School Business Partnership Program and elected member of the Alaska Association of School Boards. In 1992, Carol put her political career on the line and fought to protect Anchorage's public schools and their students from a negligent superintendent. The fight ended Carol's tenure on the Anchorage School Board, but not before she and a few of her fellow school board members were successful in sending him packing.

With her children all graduated from high school and her school board service at an end, Carol broadened her dedication to public service. In the following decades, Carol served on the Anchorage Platting Board, the Alaska Dental Hygienist Association – including six years as a delegate to the American Dental Hygienist Association, the Fee Arbitration and Disciplinary Committees of the Alaska Bar Association and a board member of the Atheneum Middle School, an Anchorage private school. With her passion for education, her dedication and her generosity with her time and talents, Carol richly contributed to her community.

Carol was widowed in 1993. She met Walter while both were serving on the Anchorage School Board, and they married in 2003. With Walter, Carol pursued two of her lifelong passions – travel and photography. Together, Carol and Walter traveled to more than 30 countries, some more than once. In her own words: "[W]e were traveling to learn about the people of these countries, their culture and their histories, and not necessarily to photograph. But, always with camera in hand, I recorded images that would remind us of what we had seen and learned." Carol's images are much more than recordings of what she saw – they are works of art that adorn their home and their children's and grandchildren's homes and provide a source of enjoyment for all who have seen them.

Above all, Carol was devoted to her family, teaching her daughters persistence, resilience and determination - three of her finest qualities – and doting on her two stepsons, her nine grandchildren and her great-granddaughter. She was well-known as a wit and was always full of mischief and laughter, which she shared liberally with her family and many others; she had a puckish grin which everyone knew would mean some teasing was coming their way.

Carol is survived by her husband, Walter Featherly; daughters, Suzanne Bishop, Elizabeth Stolpe, Lynnea Ossello and Anne Katherine "AK" Smith (Chris Smith); grandchildren, Eleanor "Nell" Bishop, Louise Bishop, Elle Ossello (Gary Paasch), Nicolas Ossello (Dominique Ferrara), Gianna Ossello (Ian Wingert), Katherine "Katie" Stennette (Matt McLoughlin), Tyler Stennette (Daphne Salaverry), Jacob "Jake" Smith and Liam Smith; great-grandchild, Scout Paasch; and Walter's children, Winston Featherly-Bean (Jemie Fofanah) and Peter Featherly-Bean (Tiyi Huckaby). Carol survived her two brothers, Gerald Courtney and Thomas Courtney.

A celebration of Carol's life will be held on Saturday, June 20, 2026, from 2-4 p.m., at the Wildbirch Hotel in Anchorage.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.