Schwartz, Carol-Ann

Schwartz, Carol-Ann

SCHWARTZ, Carol-Ann, age 71, of DFW Texas, passed away in a hospital in Austin, Texas on 11/15/23.

Carol was born on January 2, 1952 in Dayton, Ohio to Beverly and Morton Schwartz. She was a proud member of a large extended family in Dayton. She loved growing up surrounded by grandparents, cousins and other relatives. Throughout her life she made it a point to keep telling the stories her grandparents told her, keeping the family history, family fiction, and family lore alive. She graduated from Meadowdale High School, and Wright State University. Her favorite academic accolade was passing her CPA exam on her first try.

Carol appreciated that being an accountant meant she could find work in a variety of locations and industries. Her career allowed her to test out the quality of life in the Bay Area, Dallas, Cleveland, Morristown, Orlando, and finally Fort Worth. She didn't love her work, but she was a real champ when it came to meeting the demands the tax season brought with it. Fueled by popcorn, tootsie rolls, diet coke, and a can-do attitude she could get in the zone and work for many consecutive hours including multiple all-nighters in a row when necessary. Towards the end of her career, she hit her professional stride when she left corporate accounting and built her own practice with a decent market share of Argentineans working in Fort Worth needing help with their personal US tax returns. She took pleasure in inviting clients/friends into her slightly messy but always welcoming home for conversation at the drop off and pickup of tax materials. Her clients were generous with sharing their stories, travel tips, and in the case of the Argentinians their alfajores.

Carol tolerated being a CPA so that she could have the resources to excel as a head of family. She loved being a mom. Her son, Sol, and daughter, Shoshi, were her traveling companions and restaurant dining partners. She never let being a single mom stop her, she just took her kids along with her (oftentimes to places they didn't belong-like when they were tweens with their own table at an Orlando, Florida Jewish singles mixer at the theme restaurant Bahama Breeze or when the joined her for the aforementioned tax season all nighters with sleeping bags for her office floor along with a portable tv video player combo, a stack of blockbuster movies, and some junk food of their own). She loved cheering for Sol at his hockey games and encouraging Shoshi in her academic pursuits. Her kids learned a great deal about appreciating life's detours from adventuring with her.

In her later years, Carol delighted in her role as Baba (grandmother) to Lev and Yael. As Baba, she liked to sing off key, dole out screen time and sugar, and talk about Judaism. She got a lot of joy out of her oddly shaped rescue dog Hershel ("Hersh") who she generously shared ownership of with Lev. She took every opportunity to bask in the sunshine at pools and beaches. She kept traveling way longer than most would have thought possible thanks to the help of her loved ones accompanying her and her own charm cultivating an eagerness in others to assist her. Seeking out and sustaining friendships continued to be a defining principle of her life at this stage. Whether meeting friends in her travels, in person at home, or via phone/text/Zoom, she got great joy out of having friends and being a friend. She could play mahjong and gossip simultaneously with the best of them.

While her memberships and affiliations with synagogues changed throughout her life her personal practice of Judaism was constant. She lit Shabbat candles, read Jewish books, appreciated Jewish TV characters, loved Jewish humor, and always maintained a large roster of Jewish friends. She loved to host/MC Jewish holidays where her strengths were telling stories and explaining rituals and she was pretty happy to outsource the food prep and environment beautification. During the height of COVID-19 she got involved in online Shabbat and holiday services and this affiliation reignited her long held intellectual and spiritual interest in Judaism and helped her feel connected to the Jewish community again.

Carol was an unrelenting optimist even when all the facts, stats and other forms of accessible knowledge pointed the other way. She was a CPA who didn't let the odds dampen her enthusiasm for the Sex and the City slot machine game at Choctaw Resort and Casino in Oklahoma. She never won big, but she mostly had fun losing.

She is survived by her children Solomon and Shoshi Osiatynski, her grandchildren Lev and Yael Tsrylin, her brothers Nathan, Mark and Sam, her dog Hershel, her best friend Penny Schuster, her cousin and dear friend Marilyn Shapiro and other beloved family members and friends. She is preceded in death by her parents Morton and Beverly Schwartz.

Graveside service will be held 12 Noon Sunday, November 19, 2023 (TODAY) at Beth Jacob Cemetery, 4001 Old Troy Pike with Rabbi Leibel Agar officiating. If desired, memorial contributions may be made to Jewish Family Services of Tarrant County c/o The Jewish Federation of Fort Worth & Tarrant County, 4049 Kingsridge Rd., Fort Worth, TX 76109. Arrangements entrusted to Marker & Heller Funeral Homes

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