In Memory of Carol St. Onge
September 11, 1948 - June 20, 2024

Formerly a teacher at Fort Worth’s D. McRae and Briscoe Elementary Schools and an administrator for the city’s ESL (English-as-a second-language) programs, Carol was born in Pittsburg, PA, Sept. 11, 1948. She was the middle child and the only daughter of Barbara and David Goldberg.   
 
From her parents, she found her calling. Her mother, a social worker, brought home stories of abused youngsters. Her father volunteered as a court-appointed advocate for youngsters in child-custody cases. Carol vividly recalled the day a carload of children spied her dad and gleefully ran up to him shouting, “Mr. G., Mister G.”   
 
“I knew there was a need for someone to touch their lives in a positive way and help them see a life beyond their struggles,”  Carol wrote. To that end, she  volunteered for Tarrant County’s CASA—Court Appointed Special Advocates—going to bat for youngsters with no resources and no hope. “I knew there was no greater satisfaction than building a sense of self and accomplishment in children.”   
As a teenager, Carol taught physical education to home-bound students with special needs. She gave swimming lessons to babies, children, and grownups. She showed particular patience with people with cerebral palsy. In the water, they experienced new-found freedom of movement.    
 
A candid writer of letters-to-the-editor, Carol enjoyed scouring the Sunday newspapers for opinion pieces, proud when one of her letters decrying antisemitism or Islamophobia made it into print.   
 
An independent woman who doubted she would ever marry, during the late 1970s Carol took a job at Bell Helicopter.  Robert St. Onge, a graphics designer, approached her at the copy machine and nervously asked her on a date. His yen for travel, love of the arts, and depth of character drew the couple together. He accepted a position in Saudi Arabia, working with an American oil company.  She wanted to marry him, accompany him, and teach overseas.  Because obtaining a visa was a lengthy process, the couple quietly, without public announcement, married.  Months later, they had a conventional wedding.  
 
In 1982 the couple adopted a baby, David, who was born in San Salvador. The close-knit family of three resided at various times in Saudi, Richland Hills, and Arlington.  While living abroad, they traveled together to Singapore, Malaysia, the Middle East, and throughout Europe.  Among David’s most memorable experiences was a trip to Paris where the family stayed at Maison Saint Onge, a four-star hotel on Rue de St. Onge.  Startled at their last name, the concierge asked to see their passports for verification.   
 
Following the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, Carol became active in Daughters of Abraham,  which builds bridges for peace through discussions among Christian, Muslim, and Jewish women.  Three months ago, she coordinated a Passover Seder for the Daughters at Beth-El. For the past five years, she was a mainstay at the Fort Worth Jewish Archives, volunteering one morning a week to type transcripts of oral histories and nineteenth-century board minutes.  She religiously cut out articles of Jewish interest from the local papers and filed donated materials.  
 
Carol is survived by two brothers and her son, David, a computer engineer in Arlington.  Her husband, Robert, was 55 when he died in 2004.  David’s wish is to scatter both parents’ ashes in Paris at the garden at the Hotel St. Onge where the family enjoyed a memorable vacation amidst Old World charm.

The family requests that donations in Carol’s memory be made to the Daughters of Abraham and the Fort Worth Jewish Archives.