About the Author: Carol Ann McNeely, Née Hackenberg

March 15, 1938 ~ September 18, 2010

Carol with Ursa



After a long battle with lymphoma, Carol Ann McNeely died peacefully at home on September 18th, 2010. Carol was born on March 15th, 1938 and grew up on her family’s homestead farm in Rainier, Oregon. She attended Oregon State University and then worked in public service for a variety of agencies in Europe and the US, retiring from the Federal Aviation Administration's Renton Office. She was an avid gardener and was always delighted to share her knowledge, some good compost or a few bulbs with her friends and neighbors. Her flowers regularly garnered compliments from the neighbors and passersby.

One of Carol's passions, second (or perhaps not) only to her love of gardening, was 'rooting' out and writing about her family history. Her accomplishments in this arena were impressive, and she spent several years painstakingly compiling a comprehensive history of her family, resulting in this book that details the Hackenberg family in Europe, their immigration to the U.S., the trip west across the Oregon Trail and their life on the homestead. The original homestead, one of very few that is still intact, is currently a tree farm operated by her brother Joseph and sister-in-law Luella.

Above: Back row: Carol with husband Cyrus “Mike” McNeely. In front of them are their daughters holding their grand children. From left to right: Paloma Gulassa, Jennifer McNeely, Teddy Gulassa, Shane Daggett, Anna Daggett, Weston Daggett and Ranger watches on.

Carol was an enthusiastic music lover and accordion player and friends and family were always prepared for an impromptu concert; sometimes they would have to sing, sometimes they got lucky. She was a country music fan and knew all the old tunes, to sing or to play.

She was an intrepid traveler in her early years, leaving Oregon State University and her family for a job in Germany for the U.S. Army. She visited much of Europe during this time, even touring the U.S.S.R. when not many Americans had been there. Her stories from this time were legendary, like the time she turned the wrong way down a one-way street and found herself surrounded by about a thousand Spanish soldiers on horseback, coming down the street the proper way. In a parade.

She was a great baker and a bit of a health food nut. She won a prize for her sourdough rye bread, but tried to slip her kids ‘comfrey milkshakes’ consisting of comfrey, castor oil and wheat bran. She was interested in social issues and was always looking out for the underdog; she was always the first one to offer help to anyone who needed it.

Left: Carol, doing two of her favorite things,
being in the garden and picking strawberries.

Carol was devoted to her family and loved baking with her grandkids and teaching them garden tricks: the best way to kill a slug (she favored slicing them right in half with whatever garden implement was handy, including her fingernails) or how to propagate a rose. She is survived by her husband Cyrus ‘Mike’ McNeely, daughter Anna Daggett (Lloyd), daughter Jennifer McNeely, son-in-law Stefan Gulassa, grandchildren Paloma, Weston, Shane and Theodore, sisters Ina Alumbaugh Hammon and Joan Linn, brothers Joseph and Robert Hackenberg, and numerous nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents, Joseph and Wilma Hackenberg and sister Ruth Ring.