Carol Ulrich
On Tuesday, May 19, 2015, the Arcadia City Council closed their meeting in honor of Carol Ulrich, wife of former City Council Member Peter Ulrich. Carol died the previous Wednesday, May 13.
String quartet playing Dvorak and Borodin pieces at Library Kaleidoscope classic music concert dedicated to Carol Ulrich.
The next night the final performance of the season of the Kaleidoscope classical music concerts at the Arcadia Public Library was dedicated to the memory of Carol, who was a regular attendee of the concerts with Peter, a longtime member of the Arcadia Public Library Foundation, which funds the concerts. As President of the Foundation, thanks to Peter, I had the honor of sharing the dedication of the program to Carol and sharing the story of how he and Carol met in a library in high school. With Peter was one of his daughters, Patt Eberhart of Loomis, California, who was attending her first concert to see what she had heard her parents talk about for so long.
Carol and Peter Ulrich
Carol, who was born January 31, 1925, turned 90 this year. Shortly after high school, more than 70 years ago, Peter and Carol were married on Oct. 21, 1944. Through Carol’s final years of physical decline, Peter not only stood steadfastly by her side, but even into his late 80s was still her primary caregiver, which was often not easy even for someone half his age who has experience with such challenges. To the Library concerts and even to outdoor concerts of the California Philharmonic and elsewhere, Peter was there helping Carol in and out of her wheelchair, and pushing her up grassy hills and wherever she wanted to go so they could be together.
A lovely memorial service was held two days after the Library concert on Friday, May 22, at their Lutheran Church of the Cross just a couple doors away from the Library. Peter and Carol asked that donations in lieu of flowers be made to the Arcadia Public Library Foundation at 20 W. Duarte Road, Arcadia, 91007, or the Music Department of California Lutheran University, or the Salvation Army.
Carol’s obituary and a gallery of terrific photos are here at the web site of Forest Lawn’s Douglass & Zook Funerals and Cremations.
— By Scott Hettrick