Carole A. Hesse
Carole A. Hesse, 84, died Tuesday, August 27, 2024, after a brief illness. Born Carole Ann Baldwin on April 5, 1940, she was the youngest of four children of Leighton L. Baldwin and Mary Elizabeth (Gustafson) Baldwin. A third generation Boise native, she was proud of her early Boise pioneer family heritage and her direct Mayflower ancestor Degory Priest.
Growing up in Boise before the population explosion was a magical time. Her diaries were full of childhood adventures like swimming in the dredge ponds and canals with her older siblings. Once, a man walking across a bridge yelled down to her, “Hey, polio is in there.” Being just 7 years old she yelled back, “We haven’t seen her!” A small neighborhood grocery store, the 4th Avenue Market (now Rose Hill Street), was a few blocks from their home. Her older sister Sharon took her there for ice cream. Carole was about four when she asked the owner if he had strawberry ice cream. He said, “Yes, we do.” She asked, “Is it the kind with the big chunks of strawberries in it?” He said, “Why, yes it is.” She then said, “Good, I’ll have vanilla.” She never liked strawberries. However, that didn’t keep Carole and her childhood friend, Beverly Wardle-Richardson, from getting their first job picking strawberries in a field where Relyea Funeral Parlor is now located. After working all day they made 95 cents. She said it was the hardest job she ever had!
Carole always said she had a happy childhood. She was close to her family. She really was stronger than she thought she was. Her older sister Bev called her a soldier, always going through life’s ups and downs, never complaining, marching along. At age 14, Carole visited Bev in Elizabeth, NJ, traveling alone cross country by train. Her sister Sharon’s diary had an entry which said they had gone to a double feature movie on a school night and came home on the midnight bus. Asked if their mother was upset about them getting home so late, she said, “Mother never told us what time to go to bed!” Despite these late nights, Carole graduated from Boise High School with many honors in 1958. Her yearbook says, “Knowledge is powerful, but it won’t make my car run.” She belonged to the Scarlet Skirts, FBLA, worked on and edited the school newspaper, Highlights, Quill and Scroll, and was also a Courier Salesman. She made many lifelong friends at Boise High.
Carole graduated from Boise Junior College in 1960 and then attended the College of Idaho, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1962. She belonged to many clubs and was the editor-in-chief of the C of I school newspaper The Coyote.
After graduating from the College of Idaho, Carole embarked on a 32 year career in public health. Her first job was as a social worker with the Idaho Department of Health, serving families and children statewide. After several years, Carole took a leave from work to earn her Masters degree in public health at UC Berkeley (Class of 1976), getting straight A’s and returned to Idaho. As Program Manager of the Idaho Children’s Special Health Program, her progressive leadership and oversight guided the program through reorganizations, changes and funding challenges. Her priority was always the children and families, helping them navigate the healthcare system and get the services they needed. Carole was well known throughout the state, liked and respected by those she worked with and the families she served. She retired from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare in 1994.
Carole married Richard R. Hesse in 1963. Their first home in Boise’s North End is fondly remembered for its charm and showcased Carol’s flair for decorating on a budget. They liked having fun cars over the years, a turquoise T-Bird, TR7 and a Porsche! She also fell in love with San Francisco as they took many trips there. The marriage ended after 14 years. A lifelong Boise resident, Carole once owned a saltbox style home that was featured in Architectural Digest. Her retirement years were spent in her home on the Boise Bench, where redecorating and improvements were always underway. It is filled with hundreds of books and the many treasures that she loved.
Remembering Carole, we think of the Turf Club at Les Bois Park, as she loved the horses and her long shot bets; The Stagecoach, Vista Bar and the old Western Cafe, where she’d meet her sisters and mother for lunch when they all worked downtown in the 60’s; and the four of them, known as “The Baldwin Girls,” their beautiful mother always mistaken for one of the sisters.
Carole belonged to several women’s service clubs including Daughters of the Nile and the Boise Colombian Club established in 1892, of which her great-grandmother was a founding member and where Carole was secretary for several years. We remember Carole for the 1960’s VW she drove for many years, her 1972 VW convertible and finally her Saab convertible. We remember her for her style, her fashion sense and talent for interior decorating. A gifted writer, she was known for the obituaries she wrote. (She should have entered them in The Grimmys Contests). She was respected for her kindness and generosity, brilliant mind, the depth of her knowledge, intellectual conversations, and amazing vocabulary. Carole enjoyed solving the NYT and other crossword puzzles up until the day of her death. Carole always hoped to author a book but never “got around to it.”
Carole was a true believer in the good in all people. Honest, trusting, generous, and kind, and cheerful, she couldn’t see the bad in others. As her health changed, it never held her back. Taking a trip with her nephew and wife to Turf Paradise racetrack in Phoenix, watching the Kentucky Derby in outfit and hat, and trips to the Oregon Coast with her niece are all cherished memories. She had many true friends that she remained close to: Carolle Skov, Annie Lenz, Pat Warner, Vicki Covelli, Mary Jane Webb, Lisa Penny, Virginia Pierce, Mary Lou Weiner, Kevin Rigney, and many others.
She is survived by her half-brothers, Rodney Baldwin (Mary), Roger (Leesa) Baldwin of Arizona, a nephew Edward Totten (Alison), grand-niece Mary Elizabeth Totten Schifone (Anthony) of Las Vegas and niece Kimberly Coe. She was preceded in death by her mother Betty Baldwin, father Leighton L. Baldwin, brother Leighton I. Baldwin, sisters Beverly Coe, Sharon Totten, and half-brother Scott Baldwin, and her beloved dogs Willie, Tig, Baxter and Ace.
We all miss you Carole. As several of us worked on your obituary, we all wished you were here to write it! You were one of a kind and the world just won’t be the same without you in it. Thank you for being a true friend, a wonderful loving caring aunt and a dear dear younger sister to your siblings. We know you’re all together again.
Graveside services will be held on Tuesday, September 17, at 3:00 p.m. at Morris Hill Cemetery, Boise, ID. Deacon and friend Mary Lou Weiner will be officiating.
Arrangements are under the direction of Bowman Funeral Parlor of Garden City.