OBITUARY: Carol Ruth Hoy Niswander of Indialantic Passed Away On Her 92nd Birthday March 5

Carol provided a rich and wonderful home life for her family

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Carol Ruth Hoy Niswander, of Indialantic, FL, passed away on the morning of her 92nd birthday, on March 5, 2023.

Carol was a testament to the strength of commitment being blessed with 72 years of marriage to Lyle T. Niswander of Indialantic, FL, who survives.

Also surviving are two daughters, Diane E. Westerink (Joannes) of South Bend, IN and Denise A. Nickerson (Alfred) of Goffstown, NH and four grandchildren, Justen Stevenson of Lebanon, NH, and Lee Westerink, Hans Westerink, and Gabby Kitt of South Bend, IN.  Preceding her in death is her son, Dennis E. Niswander, who passed away in North Carolina in 2014.

Carol was born in Findlay, Ohio, on March 5, 1931, to Ralph and Naomi Hoy.  After marrying in 1951, Carol traveled the country following Lyle’s Air Force career to Denver, CO; Rantoul, IL; Elizabethtown, KY; Hampton, VA; Clemens, MI; Maryville, TN; Charleston, SC; and Niagara Falls, NY.  After the service, they lived in Findlay, OH; Warren, MI; Trumbull, CT; Indian Harbor Beach, FL; Indialantic, FL; Westford, MA, and back to Indialantic, FL.

Carol provided a rich and wonderful home life for her family.  She took pride in creating a comfortable and beautiful home, meticulously organized, clothes folded perfectly, and filled the house with the smells of home-cooked meals and fresh baked desserts.

She passed down her love of baking to her children and grandchildren. Her recipes form the basis of her daughter Denise’s bakery, The Bakeshop on Kelley Street in Manchester, NH, one of the top 10 bakeries in NH, and her love of chocolate manifested in her grandson Hans’ chocolate business, Violet Sky Chocolate and Cloud Walking cafe in South Bend, IN.

She also passed down her love of reading to her children and grandchildren.   She loved to collect beautiful objects – Dedham Pottery, Findlay glass, Polish pottery – and was able to donate some of their Findlay glass pieces to the Hancock Historical Museum.

She was a thoughtful gift giver, elegant letter and thank-you note writer, and her daughters’ homes are filled with cards and gifts of her love. She maintained a lifelong correspondence with her English pen pal who worked for a period in the Royal Household.

In a world that can at times seem so unstable and shifting, Carol was a constant support and presence for her husband and children.   She was one of the many GE Aerospace support wives while Lyle worked on the Apollo 11 Man on the Moon mission in their early years in Florida; she embraced the New England lifestyle in their 30 years living in Massachusetts, learning about its rich history in the Revolutionary War, following the Boston Bruins and the Red Sox, baking apple dishes from the apples in the orchard surrounding the house, participating in the luminary candle tradition at Christmas; and then returned to Florida in 2002, where they were able to buy back the home they had built in 1966 and had sold in 1971 before their move to Massachusetts.

They renovated, installed a pool, planted 100 palm trees of 35 different species on the property, and created a Florida paradise home for their retirement, proving that you can, in fact, go home again.

Carol’s memory will live on through the family she raised, the care she took creating a beautiful home, her wonderful home cooking and many special recipes, her rich and varied reading life, and the memories of her constant support and love.

Memorial services will take place in Findlay, Ohio, at a later date.

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