Carolyn Ruth Byers (Carol), 77, passed away peacefully March 9, 2024, at Solvay Hospice House, Duluth, MN. By the time she was five, Carol’s world had changed twice. First, when she and her sister Sue were adopted as babies by Margaret and Glen Estle. And second, at age five, when the family first went up the Gunflint Trail. That trip to the old Diamond Willow Lodge would lead to many summers and finally a year-round residency at Gunflint Lake. Born on July 31, 1946, in Hastings, Nebraska, Carol grew up in suburban Chicago. She graduated from New Trier High School in Wilmette, IL, and attended William Penn University. While still a high school senior, she wanted to work at the local Baskin-Robbins. But girls were not hired there at the time. Instead, she met the love of her life, Arden Byers, who was working there between college and the military. He soon left for military training in Texas, and they began a long-distance, letter-writing romance, as was common at the time. They married on October 1, 1966, while stationed at Wright Patterson AFB and joyfully celebrated every anniversary that followed. Their first son, Kirk, was born in 1967 in Ohio, son Eric was born in 1970 in California. Arden continued his military career for 21 years. But every summer, Carol came back to Gunflint Lake where her parents spent summers in the U.S. Forest Service Summer Homes. In 1971, Arden and Carol leased a home of their own in the Summer Homes on Gunflint Lake. Arden would drive the family up and fly back to California in the early summer and come back for them in the fall. After leasing for many years while their sons grew up, they bought the old Aiden and Helen Hoover winter cabin from the Gilmore family in 1993. As an adoptee, at age 50 Carol did some research into her roots. She discovered she had two brothers, Frank Nichols, and Dallas Nichols. Carol and her sister Sue enjoyed two reunions in Alaska with their brothers and families. After Arden retired from the Air Force, summers were spent in the old cabin until they built their dream home in 2013. Carol was so proud of the fact that she and Arden planned and built the home, and later a garage with a potting shed for her, without a single argument. ‘I wouldn’t change anything in the house, or in my life,’ Carol told a friend shortly before she died. She loved living with the forest and wild animals all around. She loved blueberry picking and canning jelly; loved sewing and crocheting. While recovering from surgery at the Cook County North Shore Care Center in Grand Marais several years ago, Carol crocheted 12 lap blankets for her fellow residents. She picked balsam tips for scented pillows that she donated to the ChikWauk Museum store. And she loved cheesecake. Carol often made cheesecakes and other treats for the Gunflint Lake Property Owners Assn. (GLPOA) potluck suppers, and for evenings when the Byers hosted friends and neighbors for what were often competitive girls-against-theguys card games. A 40-year volunteer for the Gunflint Trail Canoe Races, she also served as a volunteer at ChikWauk for several years. Arden and Carol served as co-presidents of the GLOPA. Fishing, kayaking, gardening, feeding, and watching the animals and just being by the lake were favorite pastimes. While she still lived in California, her mother once asked Carol why she didn’t seem totally happy. ‘I’m not together yet,’ Carol replied.

Continued on page A8 » ‘I knew Gunflint was where I was supposed to be,’ she said recently. ‘Being able to ‘just be’ is what Gunflint does for you. And it has helped me learn to accept myself, rather than fighting to change.’ She credited AL anon with helping her ‘be me.’ Carol is preceded in death by her parents, Marge and Glen Estle and brother Dallas Nichols. She is survived by her devoted husband Arden, her children, Kirk Byers ((Kristine Koncher), Erick Byers (Barbara), three grandchildren: Katlin McGil, Rebekah Byers and Samara Byers, sister Susan Jones (Gary), and brother Frank Nichols (Becky Nichols). According to Carol and Arden’s wishes memorials may be sent to: Gunflint Trail Volunteer Fire Department, 7401 Gunflint Trail, Grand Marais, MN 55604, www. gunflint911.org or to Solvay Hospice House, c/o Miller-Dwan Foundation, 502 E. Second St., Duluth, MN 55805, www.mdfoundation. org. A celebration of a wonderful life lived on the Gunflint Trail will be held in the summer of 2024.