OBITUARY Carolyn S Van Dine August 25, 1938 – January 30, 2019 Carolyn Ann Shimp Van Dine passed away at 6:30 AM on January 30th, 2019 at Lexington Medical Center. She passed peacefully in her sleep and spent her final hours surrounded by her beloved family members. Born August 25, 1938 at Tampa General Hospital, to the late Margaret Dodd Shimp and Clyde Stuart Shimp, Carol graduated in 1956 from Mulberry High School in her Florida hometown.
First attending a year at Wesleyan College in Macon, GA, she then graduated with honors in 1960 from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, with a degree in Home Economics with Specialization in Child Development. While they were both students, she met Paul Edwin Van Dine in the railroad depot at Jacksonville, FL, when they were both on their way to the Quadrennial Methodist Student Ministry Conference at Lawrence, KS in late 1957. They were married by Paul’s grandfather in Winter Garden, FL on June 12, 1960.
Their joined passion for ministry took them both to Drew Theological School in Madison, NJ, where she graduated in 1964 with a Master of Religious Education. She spent the following 39 years in Florida, supporting her husband’s ministries while also teaching disadvantaged high school students and raising their three children. Upon their retirement in June 2000, Carol and Paul moved to South Carolina, where Carol was able to build her first permanent home on Lake Murray and travel as much as possible with her husband and close friends.
She will be remembered as well for the strong impacts she made on the people around her throughout her retirement – spearheading community programs at her church, helping to raise her five beloved granddaughters, and hosting what has grown into an additional family of four exchange students from around the world. Carol is survived by her husband of 58 years, Paul Van Dine; children, Vicki Gibson (Al), Mark Van Dine (Tracy), and Karen Filaseta (Michael); grandchildren, Katherine Filaseta, Elizabeth Filaseta Boone (Seth), Emily Filaseta, Margaret “Maggie” Filaseta, and Alexandra Gibson; sister, Linda Hobby (Kenneth); and nephew and nieces, David Hobby (Susan), Rita Reynolds (Wayne), and Brenda Hobby. She is also survived by her lifelong friends, Judy and Ed Burgess.
While courting each other long distance, Paul wrote to Carol, his “Angel”: “I wish I could say in words how much I miss you. There is nothing in this world that can make me forget you… I love you, Carol; and I miss you very, very much”. Those words remain true, from 1959 until forever.
Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 5, 2019 at Union United Methodist Church with burial to follow in the churchyard. The family will receive friends from 7:00 until 9:00 p.m. on Monday, February 4, 2019 at Dunbar Funeral Home, Dutch Fork Chapel.
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