Carolyn Rae Teska '64

Carolyn Rae (Teska) Hartranft, 79, of Mahomet passed away October 20, 2025, following five years of Alzheimer’s.

Carolyn was born in Winona, MN, on June 21, 1946, middle of three children of Glenn and Carol Teska. Her dad was a 30-year Air Force Chaplain and so her family moved from base to base over her first 22 years, typically moving away from school friends after only 2-3 years. The plus side of moving was that she was able to have many new experiences. Among them were assignments to Newfoundland, Azores, France, and Germany, plus quite a few places in the US.

Carolyn graduated high school while living in France and opted to go to University of Maryland at Munich, Germany for two years. She became very fluent in German. Her folks moved back to the US after two years, Carolyn followed them back, and finished college at SMU with a teaching degree.

She taught kindergarten and first grade at a beginning job in San Antonio, TX. She met her husband, Tom, when he was assigned to Madina AFB at San Antonio. A year later they married at Chapel 2 at Chanute AFB, and she continued her nomadic life as an Air Force dependent.

They spent the next few years assigned to England AFB, LA. While Tom did his aircraft maintenance job at the base, Carolyn taught kindergarten at a nearby school. Tom left the Air Force to go to grad school at Penn State. So they relocated to State College, PA in 1973 and began their family as first child, Paige, was born there in 1974.

Then on to Minerva, OH, for four years and the birth of second child, Todd, in 1977. Tom re-entered the Air Force and they relocated to Dayton OH and Wright-Patterson AFB in 1979. Carolyn kept up the home and loved her family through the changes of relocation.

In 1983, family was assigned to Brussels, Belgium and lived on the economy. Mid-way through that assignment they welcomed their son, Bryce. While in Europe, family took lots of weekend trips to Germany, Netherlands, and France. Once a year, family made a 3-week long trip, first through the four Scandinavian countries; then through Austria, Switzerland, and Italy; and lastly, through Britain, Scotland, and Wales. Carolyn was eight months pregnant with Bryce during that trip which garnered a lot of attention as we BnB’d our way through the trip.

Upon returning to the US in 1986, family moved into a tiny base house on Andrews AFB. Carolyn continued with her mothering and nurturing of the growing kiddos. Family moved on to San Antonio early 1989 and Carolyn got the kids settled in their new surroundings once again. Tom retired from the Air Force in 1995, and family picked up and relocated to State College, PA for Tom to go to grad school at Penn State. Family lived quite frugally those next five years until graduation and another move in 2001 … this time to Mahomet, IL.

Carolyn has lived in Mahomet the past 24 years. She has been active with Bible Studies for most of those years. She has traveled to Pittsburgh, PA well over 35 roundtrips to visit her two grands, Liam, and Karsen … and their folks, of course. Her Alzheimer’s noticeably began in 2020 just as COVID and social distancing arose. The loss of social interaction was a real bummer as Carolyn was a very social person.

She is survived by her husband (Tom), children (Paige, Todd, Bryce), daughters-in-law (Carly and Katie), two grandchildren (Liam and Karsen), brother (Lowell and wife Kerry), along with granddogs and grandcats.

Carolyn touched the lives of many as a teacher, friend, mother, wife, and genuinely caring person. A celebration of life will be arranged at some time in the future.