Carol Kittelson

Ramblings Carol Kittelson

Publisher Marketing: Ramblings is a collection of columns Carol Kittelson wrote for the Lake City Graphic newspaper between 2011 and 2014, the last of which was published just three days before her death on Sept. 7, 2014. Royalties from the sale of this book benefit the "Live Matters Here" renovation project at the care center at Mayo Clinic Health System in Lake City, where Carol was an employee, volunteer and finally a resident. From the introduction: "Her writing could be confessional, nostalgic, comforting, humorous and (to some) embarrassing. It was often many of those things at once. Whether it was dancing with door handles to the music of Elvis Presley as a teen in her hometown of Quenemo, Kansas, sneaking over the fence of a lumberyard on a Sunday to steal a bag of cement - she paid for it the next day when they were open - or recounting how her cat nestled next to her and kept her company as she lay on the floor after a fall she couldn't get up from, Carol invited readers into her life, past and present. "And readers responded. Her daughter Karen Kittelson said people would often stop Carol in public to let her know they read the column. Others wrote letters. After writing about the death of her cat, Tons of Fun, in 2012, Carol was surprised to receive condolences from strangers, Karen said. 'She felt like she was a part of something bigger than herself writing (the column), ' Karen said. 'She loved to notoriety she got from that.'"