Carol Brenot Obituary

Carol Brenot
Carol Marlene Brenot lived a creative, resourceful and adventurous life and headed Home on August 24, 2024, at the age of 93.
Born December 9, 1930, the daughter of John Henry and Catherine Francis Wilcox Brenot, Carol grew up in Laguna Beach CA with her older sister Bonnie and her younger brother John through the Depression and war years. Her first job as a young child was ironing, hauling wood to heat the wash boiler and making deliveries for her aunt who owned the Laguna Beach Laundry. When she was 10, the photographer next door was looking for subjects, and she landed on the cover of the March 1941 Women's Day magazine. She attended UCLA, became a Western Union telephone operator and then was offered a job in the contract department of Metro Goldwyn Meyer movie studio. She married James R. Teetzel in 1952 and worked as a secretary at the Pentagon while her husband was in the navy. Post military they moved to the Detroit area where she taught her children to appreciate fine art, history, classical music, nature, and the beauty that is all around us. She planned birthday parties that required a compass and a shovel to find the party favors, learned how to play tennis and classical guitar, and turned a desolate property into a lovely garden.
Carol later took a job working for Detroit's Juvenile Court and trained as a court recorder, went back to school graduating with a double major from the University of Michigan, worked as a reporter for the Sandusky (Michigan) newspaper and then moved back to California. Her first employment there was secretary to the president of a small Catholic college, and later she became the first female plant operator at the Chevron Oil Refinery in Richmond. In the summer of 1977 at the age of 46, she rode her bicycle by herself over the Sierras, the Rockies, across the Great Plains and on east to visit her children, sleeping under bushes and in hedgerows along the way. That same year, she did the most consequential thing of her life when she heard Jesus say, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened" and followed Him.
Returning to Michigan in 1982, Carol settled in Midland for three years and worked for Dow Corning making touch screens. After losing nearly everything in the '86 flood, she moved to Grand Rapids (Michigan) where she worked first in the city's water and engineering departments and then as the personal secretary to the city comptroller, retiring at 72. While in GR she studied pastels with Jim Markle, was a member of Grand Valley Artists, and entered the very first Art Prize competition.
At age 80 Carol returned to Midland, lived at Riverside Place and fellowshipped at the Christian Celebration Center. At 90 she moved to King's Daughters and two years later to West Bloomfield when she required more secure care.
All her life Carol was well read, fun loving and extraordinarily persevering. She is survived by her children, Susan Stephens (Phil) of Midland, Diana Ayers of Dallas TX, Bill Teetzel (Joanne) of Dolores CO, Carol Pope (Curtis) of Bloomfield MI, and Jim Teetzel of Newington NH, seven grandchildren, Kristen, Anna, William, CJ, Rebecca, Yana and Wes, and eight great-grandchildren. She is deeply missed. Her memorial was celebrated on September 14, in Bloomfield MI.