Carol Fossum-Payne.
So soft-spoken. Always mild-mannered.
An angel on earth, who adored her family and friends, blessed with a huge heart, one that overflowed with caring and compassion and courage.

To say Carol lived life to the fullest, would only scratch the surface. Life's journey took her to 10 countries and three continents.

She loved fishing and softball and baseball and bowling.

The arts came naturally, too, whether painting a canvas, or playing the piano or making music with the violin.

It would come as no surprise, then, when in her 20's, the Symphony Orchestra in Rochester, Minnesota invited Carol to become one of them.

So many talents from a life that began almost 84 years ago.

Carol was barely a toddler, when her parents, Alvin and Myrtle Orpen, would take her to every home game of Rochester's semi-pro baseball team, the Royals.

And there were yearly, childhood, two-week long fishing trips to Northern Minnesota.
No wonder Carol would grow to have such a passion for sports.

So it's only natural that it would be sports, in a way, that brought Carol and her surviving husband together.

Charlie Payne had finished officiating a college basketball game at Louisville, Kentucky in early December of 1989. But as he drove overnight to Northern Iowa for his next game, it become painfully clear he was suffering a heart attack.

So he pulled into a hospital in Waterloo.

The doctors there saved his life. But it was a long-time hospital volunteer, named Carol, that would change his life, for the next 31 years.

Volunteering her time and talent and treasure, was one of Carol's life-long passions. Whether it was serving at that hospital, or the Cancer Treatment Center at Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo, or the Zion Lutheran Church there, or the Salvation Army Church and senior programs in Tulsa.

Carol took every chance she had, to care and to share.

But Carol enjoyed her day jobs, too.

After graduating from high school and junior college in Rochester, Carol worked for years as an administrative assistant at Max and Maxine's Superior Welding Supply in Waterloo.

After meeting Charlie, and moving to Tulsa, Carol would take the same position at Littlefield Marketing and Advertising, until retiring in 2000.

Carol's travels began after meeting Charlie. He had lived in England for three years, in Australia for two. Charlie would say to Carol, pack your bags, and they were off. Not only England and Australia, but France, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Wales and Scotland.

Whether traveling or staying at home... there are so many stories, both serious and silly, that still make Carol's family and friends remember, and smile, and laugh.

Charlie beams as he remembers, the most beautiful gal you ever saw, he says.

After 31 blissful years, Charlie has lost his sweetheart, who he will dearly miss.

Carol was born April 19, 1936 in Rochester Minnesota. On March 18, 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, she was called home.

Carol was preceded in death by her parents, Alvin and Myrtle Orpen, and her first husband, Horrace Fossum.

Carol is survived by her husband, Charles Payne of Tulsa, her adopted daughter, Sue Nichols from Savannah, Georgia, and her grandson, Dillyn Richardson of Morgantown, West Virginia. There are many nephews and cousins, too, from Minnesota and Iowa, who Carol cherished. She constantly kept in touch. Carol would never allow hundreds of miles to keep them apart.

Even as life's end was drawing near, Carol's spirit would shine as it had for nearly 84 years. And now, her family and friends can rest assured, Carol has earned her life-long reward.

The precious angel she became on earth... has now become an angel, in heaven.

Graveside Service will be in Iowa at The Garden of Memories Cemetery - Waterloo, IA

Moore's Southlawn 918-663-2233