Carolyn May McDonald

Carolyn May McDonald, 93, of Hayfield, MN passed away on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at Fieldcrest Care Center in Hayfield, MN.

Carolyn was born on December 15, 1932, at home in Westfield Township, Hayfield, Minnesota, to Arthur William Schmeling and Alvina Bertha (Kording) Schmeling. She came into the world surrounded by the strength of a farming family and throughout her long life she carried forward an inheritance of resilience and the independence of a long line of Kording women. She became the matriarch of her own family, carrying on the legacy of her mother, Alvina.

Carolyn had an unmistakable strength of spirit, made richer by an enduring interest in the world around her. She read widely, explored as many cultural and social events with friends and family as she could, followed world events closely, and maintained an interest in an extraordinary range of subjects. Learning was never something she considered finished. Later in life, she returned to school and completed a master’s degree in counseling. For Carolyn, there was always more to understand about the world and about the complicated, beautiful people who inhabited it.

Carolyn actively pursued a professional life; working as a medical technologist in Colorado Springs and at the Swedish Hospital in Minneapolis, and ultimately began what would become a long career with Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She took great pride in meaningful work of service and in being a capable, educated woman.

In 1960, she married Harry “Mike” McDonald. Together they eventually moved their family to an acreage in the country, creating the setting for a childhood her children would remember with great affection. There were food and flower gardens along with pets and farm animals to care for. It was a home shaped by work, imagination, independence, and the simple abundance of country life.

She loved to travel with close friends and relatives and ventured to far-reaching places around the globe including Europe, Africa and the Middle East. She traced family history and connected with distant cousins in Germany. She wanted to see things for herself, to encounter other landscapes, cultures, histories, and ways of living. That same attentiveness followed her home through the lens of her camera. She was an avid photographer, and among the family’s most cherished childhood memories are evenings gathered in the living room as her photographs appeared one after another in family slideshows; places visited, Zumbro River gullies hiked, people loved, moments preserved because she had noticed them.

She was, at heart, a resourceful artist, imaginative cook, and extraordinary seamstress. Her hands were rarely far from some form of creative expression. She loved to try every form of art and craft-making; transforming color, texture, and imagination into things of beauty. She had a knack for design and her aesthetic sensibilities balanced elegance and play.

She was a poet and had many of her poems published over the years. Poetry gave voice to the part of her that was always observing. Perhaps that is one of the finest ways to understand her life, she paid attention. She paid attention to ideas, to beauty, to the wider world, and to the family whose story she helped shape across generations.

Carolyn leaves behind not simply memories, but a legacy expressed by the profound strength of the Kording women who came before her, the keen curiosity she carried throughout her life, the art she created, the words she wrote, the travel and adventure she embraced, and the family she nurtured and treasured.

She is survived by her children, Elise (David) Fluegel of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Paul (Peggy) McDonald of Rochester, Minnesota; her grandchildren, Briana (Nate) Moen of Grygla, Minnesota, and Laurel Bergsten of Colorado Springs, Colorado; great-granddaughter Adeline; and her siblings, Arlys Filley of Blooming Prairie, Minnesota, Arlene Draeger of Hayfield, Minnesota, and Lynn (Brenda) Schmeling of Hayfield, Minnesota.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Arthur and Alvina Schmeling; her brother, Dicky; and her daughter, Marie.

Carolyn’s life cannot be contained by the dates that marked its beginning and end. It remains in the hearts of those who loved her, in photographs and poems, in beautiful things made by hand, in stories of faraway places, in gardens and family traditions, and in the generations who carry her spirited legacy forward.

A celebration of her life will be held at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, November 28, 2026, in the Timothy Chapel at Autumn Ridge Church 3611 Salem Rd SW in Rochester, MN.

To share a special memory or condolence please, visit www.czaplewskifuneralhomes.com, Czaplewski Family Funeral Homes, 501 2nd Street NW, Hayfield, Minnesota, 507-477-2259. Blessed be her memory.