Carolyn

 

Carolyn Ard passed away a few months ago. She was a part of our lives when Bill and I were in our early 20s and part of an artists' cooperative in Indianapolis called 431. We were raw absurd kids making weird art and everyone at 431 was kind and helpful and put up with all of our shenanigans, but Carolyn was the kindest and the one who truly kept things going. She was also the most gracious. One story that sticks out for me: she and her husband Tony were going out of town for a week and Carolyn asked Bill and me to house-sit. Their house was gorgeous, like one of those upper-middle-class mansions in ORDINARY PEOPLE. I remember being terrified that we would ruin something. Start a fire accidentally or run up their utility bill or leave behind a whitetrash stink. Bill and I were poor as hell then. Trying to make it through college, living in a shithole apartment. We were also a little uncouth. But Carolyn saw us as sweeties. She trusted us with her house. That kind of cross-class sincerity was alien to both of us. But it manifested through her. Little bits of benevolence like that don't happen often enough. She left us all kinds of upscale food in her kitchen. Fancy cheeses and breads and coffee and stuff and we ate it on her fine china and just felt like we could make it I think. That was her big gift to us: that we could belong in her world. She changed our lives sort of. Her dignity was built into her decency. She was always someone you could count on. To Carolyn. God bless.