Carol E. Fox

Carol Ebersol Klein Fox was born in Ayer, Massachusetts on September 27, 1943. She was the first of four children born to Bertha Ebersol, a Home Economics teacher and engineer Elmer Ebersol. Most of her childhood was spent on Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, a small commuting suburb of New York City.
Carol was always a great student and from an early age, she was curious about the rest of the world. Though she always tried to please her parents by studying hard and never missing an honor roll, her decision as a Spanish major at DePauw University to study abroad in Madrid was initially an unpopular one with her family. During this year, Carol not only perfected her Spanish accent (people often thought she was a native speaker) but also proved her independence and taste for adventure. She loved telling her daughter about the one bath-a-week rule at the student residence, how she survived the long winter without heat, and the dinners she shared with a Spanish friend and her family who taught her what it meant for many to live under Franco. On her first trip to Paris on a shoestring budget, she made People Watching a varsity sport, stretching out a cappuccino for 4 hours on the Champs Elysées because she couldn't possibly afford a second one. She would later become fluent in French, and above-average in Italian, German and Portuguese. Upon returning to the United States, Carol graduated from DePauw in 1965. She later earned a Master's Degree and PhD from the University of Illinois, and was particularly fond of a class taught by a young professor Richard "Dick" Klein. In Klein family folklore, she definitely received an A, but this could not be independently verified at the time of this writing. Dick and Carol were married in 1969 and had their first child, son Garrett, in 1971. Daughter Lauren was born three years later in 1974. Carol was proud of her PhD and loved being a professor for more than 30 years. Dick also had a doctorate in Spanish and finding fulfilling work in the same university or same city proved challenging at times. Carol always hated getting mail at the house addressed to "Dr. and Mrs. Richard Klein", though her professional merits were obvious to every person who ever stepped foot in her classroom. After starting her career as a high school teacher in Worchester, Massachusetts, she taught Spanish at the University of Mississippi and Rust College in the same state. In 1989 she became a tenure-track professor of Spanish at Beaver College (now Arcadia University) in Glenside, PA, where she ultimately became chairman of the Department of Modern Languages. Professional commitments strained Dick and Carol's commuter marriage, but the couple was elated to be reunited in their new home in Exton, PA, when Dick retired from the University of Mississippi. Sadly, Dick passed away less than one year later, but how Carol loved being under the same roof with the love-of-her-life once again. Before retiring herself, Carol taught at Dickinson College and for fun, trained to become a real estate agent. She soon decided that she was better at selling students on Spanish than at selling houses. Carol survived more tragedies than most people could manage and her strength and resilience will continue to be an inspiration to her family and friends. Just after her second marriage to Arturo Fox in 2003, her son, Garrett and grandson, Bennett were killed in a car accident. Along with her daughter, Lauren, and daughter-in-law, Stacy, Carol charged on with her life. She never complained about the trials of her existence, and despite numerous health problems of her own, always stayed positive and enjoyed life's simple pleasures, even after Arturo's death last fall following an extended illness. She had traveled all across Europe and parts of South America, and made a very memorable trip to Equatorial Guinea. She traveled very frequently to Paris, France, where her daughter Lauren has lived for the past 16 years: Carol was over the moon when granddaughter Giulia Clerno Klein was born on May 4th of last year. In addition to these travels abroad, some of Carol's best recent moments were spent in her backyard.
Carol's family would especially like to thank her friends and neighbors at the Traditions of America community in Mechanicsburg, PA for their love and support over the past few years. Daughter Lauren, sister Elaine, and brother Larry would particularly like to thank Sue, Lorraine, Mary Ellen, Rita, and Charlotte for showing them the true meaning of friendship, which they have extended to Carol's family. When Carol battled lymphoma more than three years ago and as she struggled the past three months with an extremely rare brain disease, PML, they were always relentless in their care of Carol, and their unending stream of visits were always filled with love and laughter.
Carol is survived by daughter, Lauren Klein; grandchildren, Giulia Clerno Klein and Drew Gardner; daughter-in-law, Stacy Klein-Gardner; son-in-law, Nicolas Clerno; sister, Elaine Milko; and brother, Larry Ebersol. She was preceded in death by her parents, Elmer and Bertha Ebersol; her first husband, Richard Klein; son, Garrett Klein; grandson, Bennett Klein; and her second husband, Arturo Fox.
A Memorial Service to honor Carol will be held on Saturday, June 27, 2015 at 3:00 p.m. at First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 100 E. High St., Carlisle, PA. A reception will follow.
To help find more effective treatments and eventually a cure for PML, Carol's family kindly requests that in lieu of flowers, you join them in contributing to research on the disease. Please send memorial contributions to the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the following address: NINDS Gift Fund, 31 Center Drive, Bldg., 31, Room 8A34, MSC 2540, Bethesda, MD 20892-2540. Checks should be made out to the NINDS Gift Fund and please write "For PML Research" in the memo line.
Hoffman-Roth Funeral Home & Crematory, Inc., 219 N. Hanover St., Carlisle, PA is handling the arrangements. To sign the guestbook, please visit www.hoffmanroth.com