Clark-Ormsby-Carson County NV Archives Obituaries.....O'Callaghan, Carolyn August 7, 2004 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nv/nvfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Gerry Perry missgerry@cox.net August 17, 2013, 5:28 pm Henderson Home News, 8/12-18/2004 December 15, 1935 - August 7, 2004 A GREAT LOSS: SAYING 'GOODBYE' TO O'CALLAGHAN MATRIARCH There was no question that Mike O'Callaghan, a two-term governor in the 1970s, was the leader of his family, his state and his newspapers --but Carolyn O'Callaghan was no follower. "Carolyn was always at Mike's side - he was the leader - but she was at his side, not in the background," said longtime Henderson banker Selma Bartlett, a long-time friend of the O'Callaghans. "Carolyn was the balance in her family, and, with that, she carried a lot of influence. Together, the O'Callaghans always put the community of Henderson first." Carolyn Jean Randall O'Callaghan, longtime co-publisher of the Henderson Home News and Boulder City News and more recently president of both publications, died Saturday, Aug. 7, 2004, from apparent complications of heart surgery at Sunrise Hospital slightly more than five months after Mike O'Callaghan died. She was 68. Services are at 10:30 a.m. today at St. Viator Catholic Church. Graveside services will be at 1:20 p.m. at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City. Visitation and vigil were Wednesday at Palm Mortuary-Eastern. Henderson residents and other prominent Nevadans remembered Carolyn as a compassionate first lady, a devoted mother of five and a dedicated newspaper executive who in the 1980s did everything from sell ads and run circulation promotions to cut and paste copy on pages to get them ready for the presses. She was working in the production capacity on May 4, 1988, when the Pacific Engineering facility - Pepcon - blew up, rocking most of Henderson. "It was organized chaos," Carolyn said in a 1998 interview: "Ten years ago we still did everything by hand. I was leaning over a page doing one of any number of items that seemed unimportant...when the first one of two booms hit. Dust flew and it felt like the roof lifted and dropped." Carolyn recalled that she and the rest of the staff of the weekly paper were quick to respond to a rare major breaking story on their Wednesday deadline, giving them an opportunity to compete head to head up with the larger dailies. "I ran to the front of the building out on Water Street for a better view," Carolyn recalled. "I cleared the corner of the building...just in time to see a massive explosion belching and rolling up like a mushroom, lavender, orange and blue in the center, then spreading out at the base." "I could literally see the sound waves coming...it hit my body like a blast of wind, sound and sand....My eardrums hurt like they were being pierced, followed by the sound of breaking glass, squeaking and groaning sounds, a dull roar and then silence." "BOOM" read the headline in that Thursday's edition of the Home News. Bartlett, a vice president at BankWest of Nevada and Carolyn's longtime banker, said that although the O'Callaghans lived in Las Vegas, their hearts - and contents of their wallets and pocketbooks - often found their way to Henderson causes. "They were there for the needed support and often wrote a check to help out," Bartlett said. "They did terrific work for St. Rose Dominican Hospital. "But Carolyn, specifically, was a mother first. She was active in the PTA and everything that involved her children. And as first lady she did all she could do for the people first, especially anything to do with young people. She made a difference." Carolyn O'Callaghan stepped down two years ago from her post as co-publisher. The newspapers were taken over by two of her children, Tim O'Callaghan and Colleen O'Callaghan-Miele. A number of mourners said they believed that without Mike at her side - especially as their 50th anniversary approached on Aug. 25 - Carolyn O'Callaghan had lost much of her desire to go on. "She died of a broken heart," said U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., a longtime friend. "She was an important part of my life, but I am not grieving for her as I did for Mike because I believe Carolyn and Mike are together now." Reid, who served as lieutenant governor under Mike O'Callaghan, met Carolyn when he was 16 years old. He met his mentor, Mike, as a student when the future governor was a teacher at Basic High School. Reid recalled how Mike had volunteered Reid to run 31 miles to raise money for Meals on Wheels. "Carolyn drove beside me the whole way, encouraging me," Reid said. "When I was done, I got real sick doing the run. But she took care of me and got me back to health. "She got involved in state activities, including helping hospitals and the homeless. She set a pattern for other first ladies to follow." Gov. Kenny Guinn called Carolyn O'Callaghan "a wonderful first lady, wife, mother and grandmother. This is especially somber news coming so soon after we lost her husband, Mike." Former Assembly Speaker Joe Dini, D-Yerington, called Carolyn a "very gracious first lady." He said she was "an outstanding mother and a real asset for the state." Mary Hausch, associate professor of journalism at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who was a Las Vegas reporter covering the Legislature during the O'Callaghan administration, called Carolyn O'Callaghan "an extremely gracious and charming woman." "Carolyn was a completely unpretentious person who was very good-natured," Hausch said. Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson called Carolyn "an energetic, compassionate person. "It was always a pleasure to do business with her at the newspaper." Gibson said. "People would go to the paper thinking about running an ad one way and she would take the time to advised them to run it a better way than they had it in mind. "She really worked hard for your business." To her co-workers at the Home News, she was more than the boss. "She was Mike's wife, but she had her own way of doing things. She was her own person," remembered June Andrews, a 20-year employee at the News. "She was always there for anyone who wanted to talk. She never lorded over us that she was the boss. She was one of us." Andrews also remembers O'Callaghan as a funny and always supportive woman. "She would say things to encourage us when she noticed we were down a bit," Andrews added. "She was a light that when she would walk into a room, all you could do is smile. She was a caring person and had a way about her that people liked instantly." Besides the pain of loss to her family, Carolyn O'Callaghan's longtime friends will miss her as well. Sandy Mosser, who worked for the News for 15 years and considered O'Callaghan to be one of her best friends, had planned to visit her former boss Saturday. "I loved her so much," Mosser said from her home in Wells, Minn. "They were a family for me when I needed one. She was an extremely lovely lady. Cared about her workers. Always worked with them never felt like you were working for her. "She was a great listener. She cared about people. She treated you like family." Mosser recalled Carolyn and Mike's love for "MASH," the 1970s television show that brought light to the medical units during the Korean War in which Mike lost one of his legs. "Her big thrill was when 'MASH' was on," Mosser said. "See, Mike, his leg was blown off in Korea and his leg was sewed up by a MASH unit. They were into the show." As first lady, Gibson said, Carolyn was the "host and producer" of formal and informal events at the mansion and during and after her years in Carson City was always willing to encourage a good cause. "Carolyn O'Callaghan was always looking for things to do, not for things to avoid," he said. "And she would encourage others to support a wide range of good causes." As a former Henderson mayor and managing editor of the Home News, Lorna Kesterson knew the O'Callaghans well. When the family took over the Home News, Kesterson worked with them. "I felt she was very gracious and lovely," Kesterson said. "She was a beautiful lady who treated everybody very nice. They were always helping people." Kesterson said her sister knew Carolyn O'Callaghan well, having bowled with the first lady in Carson City. Brian Greenspun, editor and president of the Las Vegas Sun, which also is headquartered in the Green Valley area of Henderson, said his longtime friend had a gentle touch that extended far and wide. "Whether it was Carolyn's husband, her children, her parents or the broader Nevada family, there was no one in this state more consumed with doing good for other people than Carolyn O'Callaghan," he said. "There was never not enough place settings, not enough food or not enough love for a stranger in Carolyn's house. She taught all of us how to be better people. We will miss her, but we know she is where she belongs." After Mike O'Callaghan left office in 1979, the couple bought a house in Las Vegas. Carolyn drove the moving truck from Carson City to Southern Nevada. In addition to co-publishing the Henderson Home News and Boulder City News, her husband was chairman and executive editor of the Las Vegas Sun for 25 years until his death March 5. Carolyn O'Callaghan was president of HBC Publications, parent company of the two newspapers, at the time of her death. Both O'Callaghans had bouts with caner in 2000. Carolyn was hospitalized Aug. 2 after suffering a dissected aorta. She was transported from her home to Sunrise Hospital where she underwent eight hours of surgery, receiving an artificial replacement in the upper aorta. Carolyn last month went to Carson City to attend the funeral of her brother, Richard Randall. He died the night his son - her nephew - Brian Randall and his family lost their home in the Carson City fire. Being a supportive family matriarch and a compassionate force to others was what Carolyn O'Callaghan was all about, her family said. "She was a class lady," said son Michael O'Callaghan, a Clark County chief deputy district attorney who admired his mother for giving convicts a chance to redeem themselves in jobs at the governor's mansion. "My mother saw the good in people and was especially concerned for those who were convicted of charges they most likely would not repeat. She always could see the good side of a bad situation." Time O'Callaghan, co-publisher of the Henderson Home News who spent much of his youth in the governor's mansion, remembered how his mom would get up early in the morning, put on a pot of coffee and sit at the kitchen table with the mailman, milkman, cleaner and others, discussing issues of the day. "My mother could on one day be preparing for a dinner with kings and presidents and on another day be preparing to feed the homeless," Tim O'Callaghan said of his mother's work at the governor's mansion. Michael O'Callaghan said his mother also was an outgoing woman "who knew how to party. And she had the energy to carry on the sophistication that the governor's mansion needed." Born Carolyn Randall on Dec. 15, 1935, in Twin Falls, Idaho, her parents were florists Claude and Marjorie Randall. As a youngster, Carolyn spent many hours playing in the greenhouses behind the family's flower shop. "Carolyn was a tomboy who loved to ride stick horses in the fields," said Harriett Martinez of Las Vegas, one of Carolyn's sisters. "She was a natural mom who on her own as a teenager took on the responsibility of looking after me. She took me everywhere with her. "Throughout her life she quietly took charge. When Mike Died, she took on the role of comforting others to make sure they were OK. She was just a beautiful soul." After graduating from high school in Twin Falls, Carolyn went to the University of Idaho at Moscow, where she met Mike. They were married Aug. 25, 1954. Carolyn O'Callaghan was an excellent athlete in the 1950s and'60s, winning numerous bowling tournaments and pro-am golf championships. She had a six handicap, her family said, noting that Mike at one time encouraged her to consider trying out for the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour. However, Carolyn's athletic career came to an abrupt end in the mid-1960s when she slipped on ice while carrying two bags of groceries along a Carson City street, suffering a back injury that required several operations over a nine- month period, her family said. In the late 1960s, Carolyn worked as a school bus driver and later as a music and guitar teacher at Greco's House of Music in Carson City. She also was a collector of fine guitars. As first lady, she was a strong advocate of opening the governor's mansion to the people - even those who opposed her husband on issues of the day. For example, Gov. O'Callaghan was working in Carson City when he got word that a large group was picketing outside the governor's mansion in opposition to his proposed motorcycle helmet law. But when he got home, the governor didn't find picketers outside the mansion, just dozens of picket signs on the porch and lawn. Upon entering the kitchen door a bewildered Mike O'Callaghan saw Carolyn and the mansion staff serving coffee, hot chocolate and lunch to the protesters. "They came all the way from Las Vegas and it's cold outside." First Lady Carolyn O'Callaghan explained to her husband, who responded with a broad smile, accepting the vast expanse of his wife's great compassion. And Carolyn had her brushes with history and danger. In 1993, on a trip to Israel with a group to dedicate a monument to late Las Vegas Sun publisher Hank Greenspun, the bus she was on was stoned by children while passing through an Arab area. As the tour guide yelled, "Get your heads down!" A large rock crashed through a window and landed in Carolyn O'Callaghan's lap. Covered in splintered glass, Carolyn remained calm and collected under the trying situation well. She dusted the glass off her clothes and took the rock home as a souvenir. Another observer on the bus, late Sun executive Ruthe Deskin, later recalled in her column the irony that children - spurred on by the hatred instilled in them by adults - would strike a woman so devoted to improving the lives of children, whether her own or those of strangers. Although Mike's death was very tough on Carolyn, her family said she hid much of her despair from the public and tried to carry on as normal. "She was a lonely person in a crowd," daughter Teresa Duke said. "But she found solace in her grandchildren. Just three weeks ago she took the kids fishing at Lake Mead. It was a great relief from all of her stress." In addition to sons Michael and Tim, daughters Colleen and Teresa, and her sister Harriet, Carolyn O'Callaghan is survived by another son, Brian O'Callaghan; another sister, Barbara Kingsbury of Boise, Idaho; and 15 grandchildren. Donations can be made to the Mike and Carolyn O'Callaghan Nursing Scholarship Fund through the Nevada State College Foundation, 1125 Nevada State Drive, Henderson, NV 89015. (article written by Ed Koch, of the Las Vegas Sun, collaborated with News staff writer Joshua Primack on this article. Additional Comments: GPerry note: In 1973, Las Vegas hosted the largest national bowling tournament, earning a spot in the Guinness' Book of World's Records for the number of participants, over 14,000 5-woman teams, who traveled to Las Vegas over a 3-month period. First Lady Carolyn O'Callaghan became the first and only Nevada First Lady to participate in the national event, supporting the local association that had fought hard for the tournament. 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