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Carolyn Gayle Netzer Hartman Carolyn was born on February 19, 1968, in Lafayette, Indiana, to David and Joan Netzer. When she was about six months old, the family moved to a new neighborhood just outside of Monterey, California, so her Dad could start his new job as a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. In 1986, Carolyn graduated from Notre Dame High School in Monterey and moved to Eugene, Oregon, to attend the University of Oregon. Midway through college, she transferred to San Diego State University, where she completed her bachelor’s degree in education and received her California teaching certificate. In 1992, Carolyn met the man with which she would spend the rest of her life; Steven Hartman. Steven was a new arrival to San Diego, having recently been transferred by the U.S. Navy to Naval Air Station Miramar to learn to fly the E-2C Hawkeye. Carolyn helped Steven with his studies, often learning emergency memory procedures herself as she helped him to succeed in the training. After training, Steven immediately departed for the remaining five months of a deployment overseas and Carolyn supported him with many letters and care packages. Over the next three years, there were numerous other detachments and one more six-month deployment before Steven’s tour in San Diego was scheduled to end. During that 36-month period, there was 25 months of separation due to the busy Navy schedule. Yet while separated by distance, Carolyn and Steven continued to grow closer together. On September 17, 1995, Carolyn and Steven were married in in a “perfectly planned” ceremony overlooking San Diego Bay. To anyone who was around Carolyn, it was obvious that she had a great mind for details and her organizational skills were second to none. When Steven asked about helping with the wedding plans, she said “I’ll take care of everything. The only thing you need to do is show up at the right time and the right place.” Her dream wedding went as planned. A month after the wedding, the newlyweds left San Diego for Norfolk, Virginia, where Steven was transferred to for his next assignment. The new location provided lots of new adventures and things to do. There was a new house to decorate and fill with furniture, plus numerous relatives of Carolyn’s to visit, including her grandparents and several aunts and uncles. It was fun and Steven was able to be home nearly every night during the three-year period. The one exception was when hurricanes threatened the Hampton Roads area; then Steven would have to fly the aircraft out of harm’s way, thus leaving Carolyn there to face each storm with only the support of her fellow Navy spouses and her 10-pound dachshund named Harley. Through the months of separation in San Diego, or “battening down the hatches” for those hurricanes in Virginia, Carolyn became a very strong woman who took on the challenges of life with grit and determination that would, later in life, serve her well and help her to become a close friend and mentor for many others going through their own challenges in life. At the end of 1998, Steven left the active-duty Navy and got hired by Southwest Airlines. With the new job, they decided to relocate to Steven’s hometown of San Antonio. They bought a home in Boerne at the end of 1999. Steven continued his military service as a Reservist, which meant more time away from home on top of the busy airline job. It meant additional challenges that put more stress on her, specifically, and the marriage in general. Like before, Carolyn met them head-on and grew even stronger as a result. After several years of trying to start a family, Carolyn and Steven were blessed with twins on February 12, 2003. The arrival of Quentin and Quincie brought new challenges for Carolyn to deal with and she continued to get stronger, often having to take care of “the two Q’s” by herself due to Steven’s job-related travel. As with everything else, Carolyn brought her attention to detail and organizational skills to motherhood and she pretty much became a “super mom”. She would be a super mom for the next 18+ years. In September 2013, on the first day of 5th grade for the Q’s, Carolyn was diagnosed with breast cancer. This was a new challenge for the Hartman family, but like everything else, Carolyn met the challenge head on, with the same grit and determination that she had demonstrated throughout her life. The 16-week chemotherapy regimen was the biggest challenge yet; it was physically demanding and she lost her hair, eye brows and eye lashes. She persevered and a new beauty could be seen even without the hair. A new strength, stronger than ever before, came. In December 2013, she learned that she was cancer free. Carolyn jumped right back into normal life after the cancer treatment, being the super mom that she was, being “the hub” of all Hartman family activities. Summer road trips became an annual occurrence as the Hartman family made plans to try to visit all 50 states. It was a lot of fun and a lot of memories were made. The last trip was in 2019 and the family had visited 42 states. The pandemic cancelled the family’s travel plans for the last two summers; had it not, the family had planned to see seven of the remaining eight states. In 2017, cancer returned in the lining of Carolyn’s right lung. She did her usual in-depth research and began a new chemotherapy regimen to battle this dreadful disease. Her treatment allowed her to keep most of her hair and her quality of life. There were challenges, of course, with ups and downs throughout the four-year battle, but as with everything else, Carolyn met the challenges head on and maintained her great attitude throughout. The cancer was a part of her life, but nowhere near the center. She maintained her focus on her family and surrounded herself with many, many friends who had been a support network throughout the years. Close friends were aware of the health battle, but many acquaintances were not. Carolyn didn’t want the cancer to define who she was as a person, so many people were unaware of the cancer battle that she faced every day. Carolyn’s “love language” was gift giving. She had so much enjoyment putting thought and effort into providing gifts to others. From birthdays to holidays, she was always buying things, sometimes months in advance, to have just the right gift for the right person. Sometimes it was just a small gift to lift someone up. In her purse, she had a pouch that contained numerous gift cards. She was always ready to provide a little care and love, even if it was only a gift card. Should anyone want to provide a charitable gift in Carolyn’s name, please consider the Hill Country Daily Bread ministry in Boerne, Texas. Though her life was filled with numerous challenges, she enjoyed so many levels of success for her family. She guided her children through their 13-year education at the Geneva School of Boerne and saw them both get accepted by numerous universities, with each selecting their first choice of school for their continuing education. Her faith in Jesus as her Savior and her love of her neighbors and friends surely have her watching us from Heaven. We are all fortunate and blessed to have had Carolyn with us on Earth for 53 years.

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Carolyn Gayle Netzer Hartman

February 19, 1968 - August 20, 2021