Comments on: Extension loses beloved food and nutrition specialist Carolyn Raab

By: Marjorie Braker

Marjorie Braker — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 20:44:45 +0000

I worked with Carolyn for over 20 years. She was the Foods and Nutrition Specialist while I worked as an Extension Home Economics/Family Community Health educator at the county level. Carolyn expertly answered every question I posed to her, even if she had to put in hours of research to find the correct answer.

Carolyn was tireless in her support for quality food safety and nutrition educational programs in Oregon. Faculty members and volunteers learned so much from her over the years. She was an excellent writer, editor and curriculum developer. She would not put her name on a project unless it was first rate.

Without Carolyn, the food preservation programs in Oregon would have been less exacting and reliable for all the home food preservers who look to OSU for guidance and education.

I will miss her expertise, dry wit and funny laugh. OSU has lost a very special educator.

By: Mary Stewart

Mary Stewart — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 19:05:01 +0000

I mark Carolyn as one of the greats in food and nutrition at OSU, alongside Margie Woodburn and Mary Kelsey. Carolyn and I started working in Extension around the same time, and I found her not only an infallible source of information (my nutrition go-to) but also a friend I could giggle with over some food-related story. Her life on earth was way too short, but she certainly accomplished an amazing amount while she was here! Thank you, Carolyn.

By: Tom Gentle

Tom Gentle — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 01:16:11 +0000

Carolyn and I became friends the first time we met. That was in 1980 when we collaborated on a nutrition project. I was with Extension Communication and the Extension Home Economics Program was one of my responsibilities. Carolyn was the epitome of Garrison Keillor’s shy person so we got to know each other better as time went by. The obit mentions “the files or stacks that graced her office.” I wouldn’t describe those stacks as graceful, but when I saw her office I knew she was a kindred spirit. Neither one of us liked to throw anything away! And it’s true: she knew where to find anything in those piles that covered almost every surface in the room. We also bonded over our love of coffee and reveled in our mutual Peets snobbery–though I never understood how she could prefer decaf. (As an aside, Carolyn grew up in Berkeley a few blocks from an early Peets Coffee house on Vine near Shattuck.)

She was an excellent writer, but sometimes overly modest and self-effacing. The scientist in her was leery of generalizations and she didn’t like to call attention to herself. I take it as a mark of our friendship that she let me open a news story with the line “Mayonnaise as a major cause of food poisoning is a myth that will not die, according to Carolyn Raab….” That story ended up in newspapers throughout the state. Another time, she learned from a county agent about a botulism incident that killed one and seriously sickened another. At her initiative, we fashioned a 3-part news story that also garnered news coverage around the state. The tricky part involved not revealing anything about the victims and Carolyn adroitly helped me include crucial info about botulism without compromising the source of the story. Those articles, too, landed in newspapers throughout the state. That was an important way of getting nutrition information to the public back then.

I’ve been retired more than 12 years so I can tell this now. We often sat in her office or at a cafe on Monroe for, uh, shall we say an hour or two shooting the breeze and drinking coffee. That was when I learned she had a great sense of humor and interests outside her scientific world such as classical music and singing. After she bought a house, she shared her house repair frustrations with me. I had to tell her she was the typical daughter of a father who should have taught her how to fix the plumbing.

We stayed in touch after I retired and every year exchanged Christmas cards with brief letters ruminating over the previous 12 months. Now, instead of staying in touch by mail, I wish I had taken the time to drive to Corvallis and go on a coffee break with her–Peet’s, of course, one regular and one decaf. Christmas is a sadder holiday this year. Yesterday I saw her name on my holiday card mailing list and realized I wouldn’t be sending her one this year. Worst of all, I won’t be receiving one from her.

By: Steve Dodrill

Steve Dodrill — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 22:40:16 +0000

Carolyn was one of the most incredible faculty members I ever worked with on the OSU campus. You and your wisdom will be missed, Carolyn.

By: Pamela Tom

Pamela Tom — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 07:47:01 +0000

Thank you for writing such a lovely tribute to Carolyn whom I met after she retired. Please note I think she went to Virginia Tech. Your article mentions “State University,” rather than Virginia Tech where she earned her PhD. I appreciated her friendship.

She will be missed.

Sincerely,

Pam