Carol E. Albright

Carol Ellen Albright, née Dumler, was born March 4, 1941 to Albert J and Harriette Buxton Dumler in Southard, Oklahoma. She was the first daughter and third child born to that union which later added a little sister. The family settled in Bonnerdale, Arkansas where they had a small dairy farm. At age four Carol contracted polio which resulted in the loss of use of her legs. She spent many months in hospital far from family, but remembered her happiness to hear the click of her mother’s heels on the tile floor at her faithful weekly visits. She fondly recalled riding to the one room schoolhouse in a basket cushioned with folded blankets on her brothers’ bikes and roaming the dirt roads on the back of a mule with her sister, and cherished the freedom that allowed her.

In 1959 she wed Warren Albright. The next year they welcomed a son and a few years later, a daughter; exactly the combination they’d hope for. The first few years they lived in California, New Mexico, and Tennessee. She’d been employed as a utilities clerk, switchboard operator and in medical records. In the early 1970s the family relocated to Arkansas. Carol then devoted herself to homemaking while her children attended the newly reopened school in Bonnerdale which was comprised of eight students, all extended family members.

She tailor-made beautiful fashions for her daughter, her daughter’s Barbie, and others she loved; cooked, canned, and baked, and even fried donuts; and crocheted prize-winning doilies. Her husband created a brake system for each car they owned so she could take herself anywhere she wanted to go while relying on no one to get herself and her manual wheelchair in or out. She won awards in swimming. Carol loved learning, once having a creature that had met with a fatal accident pulled into the yard so she could observe nature take its final course, and often referencing her Gray’s Anatomy and encyclopedias in her curiosity. She experienced the wonders of the world via PBS.

If narration was required for a school or church program it was likely she would be asked to perform that role with her melodious voice. She was involved with SOUL, a group at her church which made quilts and put together back packs so children who had been separated from their families had something to call their own.

For many years Carol was a bookkeeper and treasurer for the Bonnerdale Seventh-day Adventist Church. She was a Christian with no prejudices who made everyone feel welcome, creating a safe environment for discussing sometimes difficult things, and gave wise counsel if asked. She exuded Jesus’ love.

Carol went to rest Wednesday, August 13, 2025. She was preceded in death by her husband of 62 years, Warren Albright; her parents, Albert & Harriette Dumler; and brother, Bert Dumler. She is survived by her son Joe (Christi) Albright; daughter Tonya (Tom) Winton; brother Don Dumler; sister Sylvia Weatherford; and 17 grandchildren and great-grandchildren; as well as nieces, nephews, extended family members and a host of wonderful friends.

A Celebration of Life will take place at a later time.