Lenora Carl Obituary

Lenora Jean Rodino Carl, 84, died peacefully at the Alton Memory Care facility in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 24, 2026. Her sons were with her every moment of the last two weeks of her life ensuring she was surrounded by love until the very end.

There will be a private family gathering to celebrate her long and generous life at a future date. In lieu of flowers please send donations in her honor to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota or to Cancer Resources of Elkhart County.

Lenora (Lenny to anyone who knew her) was born Sept. 18, 1941, in Elkhart, Indiana, and lived there most of her life until moving to Minnesota in 2019 to be near family after her husband (Edward T. Carl) passed in December 2018.

Lenny grew up in a first-generation Italian family and learned at a young age what it felt like to be an outsider in a small city. She was considered an unwanted immigrant as a young girl by many of her classmates. She attended Indiana University but dropped out after her freshman year to get married. She spent much of the first 20 years of her marriage raising three kids, mostly on her own. But those limitations never kept her from enjoying life and ensuring her children had everything they needed. She taught them macrame and ceramics (we still have the clay family of owls we made together fifty years ago), drove them to tennis, basketball, track, baseball, and volleyball practice. She always had a garden in the backyard and a green thumb for growing vegetables, flowers, and houseplants.

She was just over 5 feet tall but had that southern Italian fire that her kids knew not to stoke. When she said, "wash those dishes!" we did. One hot summer day she gathered us all ages 12, 9, and 6 and said, "We're painting the house!" None of us had ever painted a house before but by the end of the day the tiny white house on Laurel Street shone a little brighter. She grilled hamburgers and we sat in the backyard and admired our work.

Lenny had a genetic hearing loss. As her children we were used to repeating things often but if one of us accidentally mumbled a curse word in the next room, she would hear it. She had superpowers we could never explain.

When her kids went off to college, Lenny went back to school in her 40s to finish her undergraduate degree at Indiana University South Bend in Psychology and Women's Studies. She then went on to complete a master's in social work. After an internship at Elkhart General Hospital, she started her own therapy practice in Elkhart. She never forgot what it felt like to not belong. Her practice was dedicated to clients who needed a little extra attention whether they could afford it or not. She embraced the LGBTQ community. She was the primary therapist for ADEC Arc of Elkhart, and she was a licensed drug and alcohol counselor. She believed in people, and in their ability to improve their lives with the proper resources and support. She spent many hours at the Elkhart County Court House testifying on behalf of her clients who suffered from addiction asking that they be given a second chance.

In 1997 after a chance encounter at the grocery store with Marje Reynolds of Stephenson's of Elkhart, Lenny and Marje realized they were both simultaneously fighting and mutually seeking treatment for breast cancer. The two survivors created "Fashionably Aware," a Stephenson's benefit fashion show to raise awareness and support for cancer research. Lenny loved clothes. She refused wrinkles, be they on her shirt or her skin. She left the house each morning ironed, matching, and moisturized. She loved her annual opportunity to take her own stroll down the runway. Due in part to her vision and support, that show lives on today, now known as United for Fashion, benefitting Cancer Resources of Elkhart County. Not long after that encounter in the grocery store, Lenny started Elkhart's first breast cancer support group at Elkhart General Hospital.

Despite rumors to the contrary, Lenny was no saint. She kept the coffee pot on and no matter the time of day, would say "I made it fresh!" She claimed making homemade meatballs when we knew she had bought them at Charlie's, and she drove too fast. We called her Lenny Andretti after the Italian race car driver Mario Andretti. On the occasions that she was pulled over for speeding she would flash her irresistible smile and say, "I am so sorry! I'm missing my son's basketball game," when in fact she was headed to a hair appointment. She was never held accountable for her lead foot.

Lenny loved sunflowers, her Yorkshire terriers Suzy and Lulu, crossword puzzles, houseplants, needlepoint and her treadmill. But what she loved the most was people. She loved being with people and made friends everywhere she went. We once joked about making a bumper sticker, "Honk if you know Lenny." We knew the streets of Elkhart would never be silent.

Her final days at the Alton were a testimony to the humanity of people with Alzheimer's. Every single employee visited her, and they all referred to her as "my Lenny." Her son Tim lived 15bminutes away and visited at least three times a week, sharing dinner and bad television with her, not because he felt obligated but because she was funny, alive, stubborn and full of life until the very end.

We are so grateful to the Alton, United Health, Allina Hospice and everyone who cared for her with such love and tenderness in her final days.

She was preceded in death by her parents, the late Joseph and Mary (Patanelli) Rodino; sister Concetta (Connie) M. Eppers (April 4, 1929 – Sept. 29, 2021) and brother Samuel J. Rodino (March 19, 1931 – Feb. 28, 2016).

Lenny is survived by her three sons, E. Tim (Jean Garbarini), P. Carl (Lynette D'Amico) and Christian (Nari Kim); five grandchildren, Cass, Calvin, Emma, Clara and Smith; and many nieces and nephews, and countless friends.

For a brief period after surviving breast cancer, Lenny lived in Huntington Beach, California. She walked to the ocean every day and regularly described to us the healing powers of the water. May you be by the ocean now Mom, resting peacefully to the sounds of the ebb and flow of the waves as they dance with the shoreline.