Carol Ann Breitwiser was born on June 28, 1940 in East Alton, IL to Harold and Evelyn Friend. She married Donald Breitwiser on April 3, 1959 and he preceded her in 2017. She was also preceded in death by two brothers, Gerald Friend and John Friend and her grandson, Jake McDonald. On June 23, 2026, the heavens rang out as she was welcomed by them all with her mother exclaiming: “Carol Ann”, her brothers and grandson providing bear hugs and her husband patiently waiting to start the music for their reunion dance.
She leaves to mourn the loss of her presence, but to rejoice in the life she gave to her “only four” children: daughters Cheryl McDonald, Madisonville, KY, Cristi Meyers and husband, Mike, Prairietown, IL, Denise Smith and husband, Lance, Gillespie, IL, son, Dean Breitwiser and wife, Sharyl and her brother, Mike Friend and wife, Nena, Kingman, AZ.
Left to carry the legacy of Grandma, Grandma Carol, Grandma at the Farm and Mimi are her grandchildren Christopher McDonald (Jessie Garrett), Jamie Maurer (Seth), Sidney Ehrhardt (Tim), Andi Breitwiser and Bode Breitwiser; great-grandchildren Aydan and Lila McDonald, Drew and Evelyn Maurer and Kayce Ehrhardt.
Although her birth was in the “city," upon her marriage to Don it was soon apparent that she was a country girl at heart. She worked side by side with Don in the fields, as well as kept the home fires burning with her gardening, canning, and chauffeuring her children to numerous 4-H, school and athletic events. Carol loved all creatures great and small as was evidenced by the menagerie that was raised/bred at Breitwiser Farm. Hours were spent competing in horse shows, bottle feeding lambs and goats, bucket feeding calves, incubating a variety of feathered fowl, assisting Don with pigeons for pigeon releases at weddings and funerals, and raising champion Angora rabbits from which she used the wool on her loom and held in her lap as she spun on her spinning wheel.
From raising a garden, canning, operating a produce stand, giving spinning demonstrations, making Grandma’s Red Cake for numerous occasions and in later years providing care giving to family members, Carol lived a life in the service of those she loved and frankly, we don't know how she had the time for it all.
Funeral visitation will be at Kravanya Funeral Home in Bunker Hill on Saturday, June 27, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. with funeral services to follow. Burial following the service at Shipman Cemetery where Carol will be laid to rest next to her husband and near her mother.
In keeping with her passion, memorials are suggested to Macoupin County Animal Shelter. Anyone wishing to send online condolence may do so at www.kravanyafuneral.com. Kravanya Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
