Carol Ann Frank

Carol Ann Frank was born on May 25, 1939, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Irvin Rodger Kimbrough and Irene Betty Jones. She passed away on July 18, 2024, at her home in Spring Hill, Florida. She is survived by her husband, Christopher Frank; her children Thomas Earl Flanagan III (Louise Collins, wife) of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Shelley Lynne Carlson (Mike Carlson, husband) of Bellevue, Washington, Brian Rodger Flanagan (Jessica Serwit, wife) of Silver Spring, Maryland, and Tajh Lande Taylor (Donna Person Taylor, wife) of Kensington, Maryland; her brother, Kenneth Rodger Kimbrough (Juneanne Gregory, wife) of Arlington, Virginia; her sister, Donna Leigh Kimbrough of Seattle, Washington, seven grandchildren, and a host of nieces, nephews, and extended family. Carol was preceded in heaven by her parents and her elder brother, Edward Irvin Kimbrough of Lansing, Michigan.

Carol graduated as valedictorian of Frederick A. Douglass High School in Oklahoma City in 1957, and won a full four year scholarship to attend Howard University in Washington, DC, where she studied nursing, graduating with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) with cum laude honors.  After college, Carol settled in Silver Spring and began a family while continuing to pursue her career. She worked on Capitol Hill, and later received her Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) from Catholic University, and subsequently her license as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.  Carol moved to Los Angeles, CA, where she resided for two years. She relocated to Washington state and settled in Seattle, WA. 

Carol’s professional affiliations include the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP); NAPNAP President, Washington State Chapter, 1997-98; American Association of Nurse Practitioners; Sigma Theta Tau National Nursing Honor Society; Washington State Association of Black Health Care Professionals, Board of Trustees; International Association of Sickle Cell Nurses and Physicians Assistants; the Northwest Society for Adolescent Medicine; and the Mary Mahoney Professional Nurses Organization. Carol’s entire nursing career was centered on serving poor and disenfranchised children of color living in inner city environments. She worked in community and public health nursing, pediatric nursing practice in primary care clinics and specialty clinics for sickle cell anemia, pediatric gynecology, and adolescent medicine for the Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, WA.  She worked as a public health consultant, as a manager and care provider in teen health clinics in Seattle, and as a lecturer at the University of Washington.  Carol was a co-founder, fundraiser, and planner of the groundbreaking free camp to serve children with sickle cell disease, held each summer at Camp Burton on Vashon Island, WA. This camp served children with sickle cell from Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Idaho.  As the capstone to her career, Carol ran the newborn screening program for the State of Washington.

Carol had an active spiritual and civic life.  She was a devout Christian for her entire life, and has been a member of Destiny Baptist Church in Spring Hill, and when she lived in Seattle, a member of Mount Zion Baptist Church, where she was a member of the Sojourner Truth Women’s Circle.  She sang in the choir and was a regular student at bible study at both churches.  She enjoyed quilting, and was a member of the Pacific Northwest African American Quilters. Her quilts were exhibited multiple times, including at the Northwest African American Museum, and published in a book. Carol was a member of the Book Club Seattle, and contributed to their collection of short stories published in 2017. She was also a member of the Four Seasons Northwest ski club, and skied many of the mountains around Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and British Columbia, occasionally attending conventions of the National Brotherhood of Skiers.

Carol enjoyed arts and music.  In addition to her singing, she played piano with her church and the glockenspiel with her high school marching band. Carol had a special appreciation for visual art by Black artists, and collected artistic prints and other works, as well as sculptures and African masks.  She collected small jewelry boxes handmade from different materials including wood, metal, pearl inlay, jade, and porcelain, from many places.  Carol was fond of music and enjoyed listening to gospel, funk, R&B, jazz, and classical performances and recordings.  She also kept her mind sharp with crossword puzzles, which were a lifelong enjoyment. 

Carol was adventurous and well traveled, and visited Thailand, The Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, and many places in the Caribbean. She enjoyed learning about other cultures, and spent several weeks residing in a village in Guatemala to improve her Spanish language skills.  She celebrated her 60th birthday by water skiing in Florida.  Later in life, she moonlighted as a professional model, and her work was seen in tv commercials and print media, and she had brief speaking roles in a couple of Lifetime television movies. 

At the twilight of her career, Carol married Christopher Frank, and retired to Spring Hill, Florida.  In her retirement, she enjoyed baking and quilting, and made many quilts for family members and friends.  Her favorite desserts to bake included lemon meringue pie, apple pie, and chocolate chip cookies, and she inherited her mother’s love of ice cream.  In her backyard, she fed and befriended the neighborhood squirrels. Although dementia eventually robbed her of her physical and mental gifts, her love for children, for her canine companions Chica, Bella, and Shai, and for her husband remained steadfast until the end. 

Celebration of Life for Carol Ann Frank

Grace St. Marks Presbyterian Church
8375 Spring Hill Dr
Spring Hill, Florida

Saturday, August 24th, 2024
11:00 am

IN LIEU OF FLOWERS PLEASE MAKE A DONATION IN HER NAME to one of the following charities:

Metropolitan Seattle Sickle Cell Task Force, which still hosts the sickle cell summer camp that she created, now at Camp Korey – https://www.mssctf.org/ 

Mary Mahoney Professional Nurses Organization (please write that it is in care of Carol Flanagan Frank on the donation form) – https://marymahoney.org/donate/ 

A celebration of life in Seattle will follow later, with details still to come.

All Arrangements are Entrusted to J.T Campbell Funeral Home and Cremation Services Macedonia Chapel 

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