Carol Ann Fosdick

Carol Ann Johnson was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on May l, 1943, the only child of Charles M.

Johnson and I,orraine A. Johnson, nee Seider. She had several "passions" developed and pursued early in life. As a toddler she was lured from hiding beneath the dining room table by a handsome stranger in uniform--with a Hershey bar. Pvt. Charles Johnson and chocolate soon became lifelong favorites, though her parents were divorced and both remarried in the mid 1950's.

She won a National writing contest in the 50's which also sealed her passion/dream of becoming a writer or journalist. As feature editor of her H.S. weekly newspaper, she picked up skills that would serve her well-working later on two small local newspapers in Milwaukee. She attended Valparaiso University in Indiana, but took an educational break after meeting the love of her life on a New Year's Eve blind date in 1962.

Ten months later, on October 27th, she married Eric Leonard Fosdick. The month was a historical marker for the Cuban Missile Crisis that threatened a new war averted by tactics from President JFK. Carol worked as a stenographer in an Insurance Co. and the Northwest News and the Milwaukee Reporter to help Eric complete his engineering degree from Marquette University while he also worked at Allen Bradley in Milwaukee.

In 1966, the couple adopted infant Daniel Ryan Fosdick, and a year later moved to Rochester, MN after Eric graduated and was offered a job at IBM. In August of 1969, they added a month-old infant, Kristen Lea Fosdick, to their family. In 1988 the family grew again with two young sisters from foster care, Tanya and Theresa, aged 5 and 8 yrs old.

While Eric advanced through ranks at IBM, Carol wrote stringer articles for the Rochester Post Bulletin and freelanced with several National magazine stories that may have helped feed a menagerie of rescued dogs, cats, and even solidified her last childhood passion for horses once they moved to country acreage and built their "dream home" in 1984. For many subsequent summers, Carol spent weekends at horse shows with her daughters and eventually gave public riding lessons to nearly 50 young people as they consistently maintained a half dozen horse herd in "the barn built before the house." All totaled, 32 animals, including 19 horses and a pygmy goat have enjoyed the hospitality of Mt. Pegasus, AKA The Funny Farm.

In 1985, with two other writers, Carol won a MN grant to publish Blossoms & Blizzards, an anthology featuring short stories, poems and essays by prominent and new MN authors--including Cj Fosdick. The following year she won the first annual short story contest held by the Post Bulletin. Llama Bells went on to be published in Redbook and two School literature textbooks in the USA and Canada.

With an empty nest and barn, and a three-time retired hubby, Cj filled her time writing published novels along with short stories, including her award-winning romantic/suspense/time travel "Accidental Series. " In 2019, their only son Daniel died, and in 2023, daughter Kristen followed after a decade bravely fighting cancer. During the Covid era in 2021, Cj was felled by RA and auto-immunity. Maintaining health concerns of the couple in their golden years while downsizing for a local Sr. Co-op had become a priority as their shelf life shortened with time hopefully left for several more book projects.

She is survived by her Milwaukee-born half-brother, David Charles Johnson and MN daughters Tanya and Theresa, sons-in-law Aaron Guy, Tyler Johnson and Ross Waldvogel, daughter-in-law Marion Fosdick, and grandchildren Ryan Fosdick, Simona Fosdick, Katie (Fosdick)Traylor, Noah and Charlie Guy, Zoey Johnson, and Hunter and Liam Waldvogel plus four great grandchildren, Reya Fosdick, Marcus, Jada and Nyla Traylor.

Cj requests any memorial funds go to support benevolent local or mission needs at Mt. Olive, her beloved church "home" longer than any residence combined since 1968, or Paws & Claws, managed by daughter Tanya Johnson, who shares her mother's lifelong animal compassion.

Services are pending.