Return To Homepage
Carol's journey has ended but so have her struggles. She passed away March 6th, 2005, but she will be remembered forever.
See "Shady's Surprise"
Please click here to see the June 2004 Carolina Country article featuring "Carol's Story" by Elizabeth Loftin.
A coastguardsman and a lady fell in love, the time was the early 60's, the coastguardsman was Larry Garner, the lady was Carol Calhoun.
I was eight yrs. old the first time I ever met Carol, she was a tall slender very beautiful young lady with long dark hair and blue eyes, holding onto the lead line of a beautiful snow white mare. I learned soon enough that the mare's name was Shady Lady. She was an Appaloosa, and Carol and Larry had brought her here with them, to Beaufort N.C. , all the way from Florida. At the time I owned a little mare from the outer banks, of Shackleford North Carolina. I'd named her Ginger, as she was the colar of a Ginger bread cookie and her temperament was full of spit fire and Ginger, when I first got her. As the pony's, from the surrounding Islands here, are all wild.
Shady Lady was a huge mare, with the gentliest spirit. I kept watching Shady grow as the days and weeks passed by, and then one day I announced to Carol, "Ms. Carol, I said , Shady Lady is going to have a baby" ! . " Awe Elizabeth ", said Carol, Shady's not going to have a baby, she's just bigger than your your pony. "Nope" she's going to have a baby horse, I repeated, " a foal" you'll see. Carol just smiled at me.
A few mths. passed by, and sure 'nuff, here comes Carol running up the dirt road, behind our house, as fast as those long legs of hers could run !! Mom and dad, said " she came a running like the Indians were after her ! " . She hit our back porch out of breath, and exclaimed, " Shady Lady's
had a baby, Shady Lady's had a baby!" " I " of 'course, grinned from ear to ear !! and beaming said, " I told ja so!"
That day, a Dream was born in the shape of a beautiful perfect foal, named " Surprise Package",
although, I was quick to remind Carol, that I wasn't surprised at all. (grin) And more than a foal was born that day, for within Carols heart , stirred a Dream to raise and bred the finest most perfect
beautiful Appaloosa's that money could buy!. I suppose Carol kept that dream deep inside of her for many yrs. to come. As there were other babies to be born first. Carol and Larry raised two fine daughter's of thier own . Surprise was sold , as was Shady Lady to raise thier girls, send them to school and clothe them with all the great things, good parents do.
But........"The Dream" never went away that stirred within Carol , and as the girls grew up and got married and started lives of thier own, and I too , married and raised a son . We rekindled an old friendship, and Carol and Larry and I, would sit on the porch and talk of "Dreams that had yet to come true". We had both owned many horses since Shady Lady and Ginger. Both of us, had bought , sold, and trained horses that through our handling and training became Champions for someone else to enjoy. Alot of things in our lives had changed, alot of time has passed, from the day, I was a little girl and Carol, as a young woman had shared the awesome birth of " A DREAM".
Even when we didn't speak of it, looking through Appaloosa journals together, I knew that the "DREAM" was still alive in Carol..........and Larry knew it too !! Through all the changes that we'd made, that was the one thing that never changed, the steadfast love between Carol and her Coastguardsman. Larry wasn't, as into horses as Carol and myself, and will be the first to tell you, that he doesn't know the ends and outs of horses like Carol and I did. But he loved his lady, and he was going to make her "Dream Come True" !. The ten acres behind thier home was bought, the tree's and under bush were as thick as thieves, when he started clearing the land, he hired o ne man to come in and take out alot of the really big stuff, and then he finished the job himself, with an old 1939 tractor . With hard work and many blisters behind them, Carol and Larry began building thier "Dream Come True" barn. Everything about the barn, Larry had well thought out, it would be comfortable for the horses to come, and for Carol and him to manage. There was a foaling area, an wash area, a place for the office and tack, and a temp. controlled feed room..........it was all in the plans, and in the makings......... .
But......the barn stands there an incomplete , an unfinished building, the hammering of the nails silenced. The sound of drill's, silent. Boards and stall doors ready to hang, lean dusty against a wall.
I stand with my friends hand in mine and look across the field to where " the Hill" is, that was to be, where they'd build a small cabin like home, so they could sit and sip thier coffee and watch the sun sit, on the backs of their new born foals, "that was still only in their minds-eye". I held Carol's hand and listened to the whistle of a near-by Whippoorwill, and farther in the distance, up the road where the older stalls still are, I hear the distant whinny, as Spring and Hawk neigh to one another. I fight, with all I have inside of me , to hold back the tears, as Carol say's to me " its going to be alright, life doesn't always turn out like, we want it too".
You see..........just as my best friends in all the world, where right slap in the middle, of making their"DREAM" come true, Carol began having these serious headaches it was around May 2003 .
Larry couldn't recall Carol ever even having headaches, so you can just imagine their concern, when she began to not even be able to get out of the bed.
No one was prepared for what the doctor would tell them was the cause of Carols headaches. Larry and Carol first went to their family doctor , Dr. Rickabaugh of East Carteret Family Medicine, and on May 19th 2003, they were told that Carol had a large tumor in her head, "a brain tumor".
June of 2003, Carol was taken into surgery, the large mass of tissue was removed, and found to be malignant. But there was a portion of the tumor , that attempting to reach it, through surgery would be to risky, for Carols well-being. As it stood , "Carol was still Carol", sassy , smart, and fighting like a Pitt Bull , to beat this!.
So, with a cancer as aggressive as what she has, it would have to be fought as equally aggressive , with chemo and radiation. The medications take a toll on her , sometime leaving her very weak, but never stealing away her smile, or determination! .
" I watch", as "the Dream", sits idle. "I watch" when she doesn't even realize, that I'm watching her standing to the window , looking out across the back yard, as Spring , her hope of promise, her well-bred, Appaloosa mare , nibbles on tender pieces of grass. I know her thoughts and Ifeel her fears, "we're that close". I want to scream at the cancer and tell it to go away! "You're not welcome here, I want to say". I keep little things near-by "to remind me to pray for healing". I ask everyone to pray for my friend, I stand there, as does Larry feeling so helpless. We're both "fix it up'rs", but how do we fix this? I felt the mountain sitting on Larry's shoulders as time after time, I went with them for blood test and check-ups and refills on her medications. Then one day, I was standing right beside Larry, when the pharmacist handed Larry a bag full of medicine and rang up the bill $1,300 dollars." I just about fell out, in "total awl and ignorance", of how expensive this was, I said "how often is the bill that high", "just about every time", Larry responded. What a price, to stay alive, I thought to myself.
That night I couldn't sleep, I tossed and turned, I thought of everything I could do to help, but what? Memory , recalled the many times I'd asked Larry, how are "you" doing, you holding up ok buddy? And he'd say, "yeah if I could just get one nights good sleep", I haven't been able to sleep good since this all started. I said, "Carol having a bad time , huh"? "keeps you up all night, huh"? "NO", he replied, "the bills" .......how much longer can I keep this up?.
God I prayed, "please help me to find away, to help Carols Dream to still come true, and to help Larry with these bills". Almost immediatly, it was like He whispered in my ear, "WRITE". As an advocate for the wild horses on a near-by Island, I'd written local papers and stirred the hearts and attention of people to save the wild spanish mustangs there, surely my friends situation would touch peoples hearts "if" they only knew about it.
The Devil........plays his part in things too, I took our story to our local newspapers, and presented it to them. Can you imagine how heart broken we were, to be turned down. I was coldly told "NO". When I asked why , I was told it was "too much like free advertisement" for my business!. "Now, I was angry and hurt"........I replied, "this is a fund raiser", for my best childhood friend, that has "brain cancer", do you have any idea how expensive her treatments are!?.......no, and I don't care was this one news papers man reply!.
One paper told me "someone's going to profit" from this........and "I'm not going to run it". The 1st. paper had told us, to open a "Trust Fund" account in Carols name, and they'd run it. That was a great piece of information, it was something we defiantly needed to do, as "we were trying to think positive", and had often said "maybe this will get so big, we can help other people in the same situation!!". ( I continue to hear the one guy, saying "someone's going to profit from this. I beat there are 1000's of cancer patients out there , who would love to know , how does "ONE" profit from having cancer!!!! )
Sooooooooo..........we opened the account, went back......and were told "No", that because, I had a Gallery, it was too much about me. I left crying and angry, and puzzled. Well, yes , it was sorta about me, it was about me , trying to help my friends, the only way I knew how. By asking "OTHERS" to help!! ..............But this is defiantly about Carol, and its about life and friendship and "DREAMS"...............
It started because Carol hung onto a dream for 37 yrs. and just when that dream was right at her finger tips, life threw her and her husband a curve ball. It started, because Carol Garner is not a quitter, and neither is her husband, and you know what, neither is that hard-headed friend of theirs.
So .........I just said to Larry, "give me somewhere else, I might could send this letter too!" Larry thought for awhile and then he got , what I call this chessy-cat grin on his face, he got it from thier cat "FRED", but Fred's another story all together. Anyway, Larry said, lets send it to "Carolina Country" thier electric company magazine. I contacted the editor, who was very receiving of the idea, and told me to get it to them as soon as possiable. It wasn't long before Tara Vara, contacted me and said "it will be out in the June issue". We were all three very thank-ful and very hopeful !!!.
When the story was sent in, and I'd written that people could request a copy of "Carol's story", I had written it, only to the paragraph that begins with ......"God I prayed. "
I didn't know how things were going to be by the time the story got published, how Carol would be,what stage of loosing the farm would be at, or how receptive people would be to our story.
I thank that, those of you, who have so unselfishly given should know, one of the horses has been sold, Carol and Larry's bills are mounting, and whether or not the homestead will be sold is undecided, but one thing is for sure........"Carol smiles", "everyday" about something! and the love people have shown her, through your gifts, are "priceless" to her!! If you ever have a day, that you're feeling a little short sided, about yourself or the world, or the future of tomarrow........there is one thing you can be certain of.............
"You did a good thing, when you contributed to Carol and Larry Garner", I wish you could know them , as I know them. No finer people, will you ever meet. And if you happen to be in thier presence, whatever they have , no matter how much, or how little, you will always be welcome, to a part of whats theirs, "thats just how they are". On thier worse day, they have been there for me. "Thats friendship" says Larry.
This past yr. July 5th, the couple celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary, friends , family and children, all came to celebrate with them , "the life they've lived together". IN our hearts, I know, we each one wondered , will we "all" be here next yr.?
Larry stood up and shared with us, some of thier courting days, and of 'course there wasn't a dry eye in the room when he got to the part, about how he'd been on a tour of duty and hadn't seen her in awhile , and as soon as he got to shore he recieved a call from Carol , already anxious to hear her voice , he said " hello baby" , and Carol, replied "Hello My Friend" ...............
There was a still........silence, in the room, as lips trembled and "grown men", held back tears, and all around me , "each one of us, took a deep breath and wiped away, the leaking", down our faces.
Larry "mustered up", the will to say........"She was my Best Friend, then" and "She's My Best Friend Now", 37 years later. He walked over to her, and said "may I have this next dance", and Claire thier youngest daughter, sang " Hello My Friend hello, just called to let you know, I think about you every night, I know its getting late, but I just couldn't wait, to call and say hello".
Remember a special Prayer July 5th, as Carol & Larry will Celebrating
their 38th Wedding Anniversary!!!!!!
God Bless You My Dear Friends,
Love, Carol & Larry, and Elizabeth
*** eliz's note: *** May each of you live to love , as Carol & Larry have, and may you each own your own "Dream" , and live a healthy life to see it come true!. May none of you ever know the pain , of seeing, feeling, fearing............loosing someone so "Priceless".
And may you have the determination, that should anyone, ever say "no " to you, when you are trying so hard to help someone you love........that you will remember "there are many doors in Gods house!"
What doors the devil slams in your face, are so minor , to the "ONES GOD WILL OPEN"
Their are many hands of love working to make all this possible.......no one hand is more important than the other, Joel Becton recreated the photos Carol took in 1968, by restoring them and creating the image, we lovingly send to you. Joels wife, Jane is the soft touch behind the thank-you notes.
God is the inspiration beneath my wings, to guide my words as I write, and each one of you, are the "DreamMakers" , beneath Carols & Larrys wings.
Carolina Country ........... what can I say, they are the care takers of our needs, and made this all possiable!! My humble thanks to thier staff, writers, and editors .
Joel and his wife also print the photo's for us at 100% cost only, every dime of profit......goes to Carol's Trust Fund. Thank-you for in-trusting your hard-earned dollars to us.
Without David Bell of Bell Photography , who built this wonderful computer for me and who has inspired me along my own life's Journey, prehaps
none of this would have been possiable. He is also the one who produces 99% of
the prints, you may purchase from from Gallery. Visit us ....... elizabethswildhorses.com
and ...... David Bell , .........
bellphoto@mac.com .
Last , but not least "MY WEBMASTER" Jonathan Hickman ..........
Sipen.com.......... Jonathan is the creator of this beautiful website, He has taken photographs provided by me, and text written on anything from posty - notes , to a wave of emails.........and sorted through it all to create what you are now enjoying. Contact Jonathan at........webmaster@sipen.com.......... to have your own
website........created by the Master, of Webmasters. ( He is also great at re-creating an existing website!!!!)
Again My Many Thanks,
Elizabeth loftin
Please click here to see the June 2004 Carolina Country article featuring "Carol's Story" by Elizabeth Loftin.
