Carol Curtis Kemper

It is a daunting task to try to condense 40 years of life succinctly enough to keep from boring a flea, but here it is:

After St. Genevieve’s, I attended Trinity College in Washington, DC for one year, then married Peter Everett. We had two daughters, Kelly and Anne, and were divorced after about seven years. I later married Waldo Otis and that lasted for about seven years also, no children. I am now happily married to William Edward Kemper (Buddy), and we celebrated our 20th anniversary in April.

Kelly Marthéa Everett was born September 20, 1966, so she will be 38 this year. Never been married, no children. She lives in Pal Coast, Florida (just south of St. Augustine) and is a mortgage broker.

Anne Curtis Everett was 33 in June. She has been married and divorced twice and has two little girls who are the light of my life. Sierra is 9, Isabel 3. They live in Albuquerque, NM , and Anne is a graphic designer.

I have two wonderful stepsons: William Edward Kemper III (Will) was 40 in May and is divorced and has one daughter, Corrin (age 14), who is another light of my life. They both live in the Atlanta area. Thomas Garrett Kemper (Garrett) was 32 in May. He’s never been married, but has a serious girlfriend. Garrett is an avid rock climber and travels all over the world to climb when he can. To finance his avocation, he works for a manufacturer of rock climbing gear in Salt Lake City, UT.

My mother still lives in New Orleans in the same home she liven in when I attended SGP. She will be 85 this month and is very active. I have two sisters and a brother in New Orleans, a brother in California, a sister in Indiana, and another sister just outside of the Boston area.

Buddy just recently retired from the citrus industry. Before that, he had a long career in the corrugated box industry, which caused us to move several times (Memphis, central Florida, Louisiana, Salisbury, NC, and finally here to Flat Rock). For the past eight years, he has been managing a private citrus operation in south Florida, from which he retired in January. We have spent these last few years between Florida and North Carolina, but we now have the luxury of deciding just where we want to live. As much as we love it here in the mountains, we are considering moving closer to New Orleans and my family. Buddy loves the water (boating, fishing, etc.) so the Mississippi Gulf Coast is appealing for that reason, as well as the proximity to my family. My dream is to keep a little cabin somewhere up in this area as well. We’ll see.

I returned to college when Anne started school up in Boone and earned a BS in Elementary Education from Florida Southern University in Tampa. I taught school for two years, then “retired” when I realized that I’d much rather be spending time with my grandchildren. Since then, I’ve devoted my time to traveling here and there to see family (as mentioned above, my siblings are also scattered all over the US), reading, hiking, and researching my family genealogy, which I find challenging and fascinating. I also love to cook.

I’m so grateful to have spent these last few years in this area—it’s so beautiful here. I’ve loved it since first arriving in Asheville to attend St. Genevieve’s. I’ve also renewed my friendship with my old roommate, Joan Loeb, and that’s been a blessing, too. And now, its seems that there is the possibility of reconnecting with many of my old classmates. I’m excited about that! I look forward to seeing many of you in October.