Paul Sadows sat surrounded by photographs’hundreds and hundreds of photographs’as he talked about the first time he set eyes on Carolyn 32 years earlier.
It was love at first sight.
‘I walked in the door, looked at her and it was over,? he said, explaining that he’d gone into the printing house where Carolyn worked back then for a quote. ‘I knew right then. She was a special girl, I’ll tell you. Wow.?
The photographs in the Sadows? living room were brought back from Clarkston Community Church, where funeral services were held recently. Carolyn Lou Sadows died suddenly from a brain aneurysm Jan. 6 while on vacation with her family in Cape Coral, Florida. She was 63.
Paul and Carolyn were co-founders and co-owners of Sadows Auction Gallery in downtown Clarkston, a successful and prosperous business the couple built together over the course of 27 years.
‘We complemented each other,? said Paul. ‘Where I was weak she was strong. I wasn’t that good at the books, but she taught herself, and she excelled.?
Carolyn’s family knew her as a perfectionist ? a meticulous, hardworking woman with an eye for details large and small. She made certain everything looked beautiful before an auction, made sure the clients were pleased, the bills were paid and the books were in order.
Although she was fastidious around the gallery and worked 17-hour days alongside Paul in the beginning, the couple later agreed not to talk about work when they weren’t working.
There was, after all, a much more important purpose in the Sadows family.
Carolyn, said those who knew her, was the backbone of family. She made sure the family stuck together and remembered the important things in life.
‘We work so we can go out later and have fun,? said Ron Chamberlain, the couple’s oldest son. ‘That’s the only reason we work. We work hard and we play hard. This family plays harder than any family I know.?
Do-Duck-Inn, the family’s home on Big Platte Lake, south of Traverse City, was often where the pulse of the family was beating. Paul and Carolyn spent years building on to and remodeling the house so it could accomodate the growing family every Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Week between Christmas and New Year.
More than anything, Carolyn loved being with her family, and over the years traditions were established and expanded.
In the winter there was poker, euchre, and Texas hold ’em tournaments. In the warmer months, there were beanbag tournaments, jet ski races, volleyball and botchy ball.
And then there was the Great River Adventure, a trip down Platte River into lake Michigan on anything that would float.
‘Everyone went on the Great River Adventure if they were 85-years-old or 3-years-old,? said Ron. ‘We had the big mats, the small ones. Guys would be playing football down the river in the river, dogs running around, and little kids floating along.
Carolyn always knew exactly what needed to be done to keep the huge events running according to plan, said Paul, and she’s do things like get up to start the potato salad at 4 a.m.
But she wasn’t one to do all the work and miss out on the fun, so Carolyn made lists so everyone had a job. Or two.
‘Everything was completely organized,? said Paul. ‘We’d have the beanbag tournament at one o’clock, the Great River Adventure at three ? everything was all planned. It was like going to Disneyland or something.?
Often, the couple would have as many as 40 people at the house for a long weekend friends, family’everyone was welcome.
‘Instantly you were part of the family,? said daughter-in-law Gwen, remembering the time she first met the family some 20 years ago. ‘That’s the way it was, no questions.?
The holidays, she said, were very important to Carolyn and the rest of the family.
‘Ron and I got married in August, and the first Christmas I walked down the stairs and I went ‘holy cow!?? she said. It was just insane.?
Gifts were stacked high, she said, all wrapped’with homemade bows? by Carolyn.
The unwrapping process took forever, said granddaughter Ashley, 18, because Carolyn wanted to see everyone open their gifts.
As the oldest of seven grandchildren, Ashley enjoyed a special relationship with Carolyn, and remembers trips to Florida when her Grandma would get up early to have tea and hot cocoa ready for the others, or trips up north where other special memories were created.
‘I used to sleep in bed with my grandma and grandpa every night up north, right in the middle,? said Ashley with a giggle and a smidge of a guilty look crossing her face briefly.
‘We’d lay in bed and eat chocolates and not brush our teeth. She’d say ‘don’t tell your mom and dad.??
Eating fine chocolates in bed with her granddaughter was one of the things Carolyn loved to do. She was a woman with the luxury of enjoying her favorite things in life ? she had a penchant for fine jewelry and beautiful clothes, fine dining, good wine, shopping, dancing, and trips to Las Vegas.
‘We were both middle class kids,? said Paul.
‘Nobody handed us anything. When we got married we had nothing, not a cent. We were just getting to the point of retirement, had all the money we needed to live our lives and have some real fun.
Paul was going to buy a Ferrari. He could just see his wife driving around in that fancy car.
‘She was the ultimate provider,? said Carolyn’s son Jeff Chamberlain. ‘When the kids were grown and gone she was still doing it because they weren’t grown and gone to her, really. She was always there for us.?