Carolyn Kay Orlando

Carolyn Kay Orlando of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, passed away from this life on November 11, 2023, at the age of 78. She was born Carolyn Kay Allen in Evansville, Indiana on July 5, 1945, to Robert Earl and Katie Meryle (Martin) Allen. Carolyn spent around 20 years of her life living in New Jersey. During that time, she loved attending the New York City ballet as often as she could, and she developed an unwavering fondness for Knicks basketball.

Carolyn was an enthusiastic military supporter and a huge advocate for the people she loved, especially her grandchildren, all of whom she adored. She loved buying scratch-off lottery tickets for them and mailing them off, always eagerly awaiting the tickets being mailed back for her to cash in the prizes. Simply put, family was everything to Carolyn, and she loved nothing more than spending quality time with her husband, her children, and their families. She enjoyed cooking her famous Italian feasts for the people in her life, and those closest to her say she made incredible pasta fagioli and manicotti, and the most delicious cherry cheesecake.

Carolyn enjoyed fishing, first with her father, and later, with her own children. She loved to go bowling, watch movies on the Hallmark channel, and she was an avid reader, especially of works by authors James Patterson and Alex Cross. She watched her favorite movie, Popeye, countless times over the years, and like a lot of ladies, she was a huge, lifelong fan of Tom Selleck and always liked watching anything featuring the mustachioed legend.

One of her most sacred pastimes was doing family and genealogy research. The further her exploration took her, the more motivated and delighted she was to keep researching her family tree. Carolyn was a wonderful wife and mother, a devoted grandmother and great-grandmother, and a dear friend to many. She will be immeasurably missed.

She is preceded in death by her daughter, Jackie Anderson, and her parents, Katie and Robert Allen.

Left to treasure her memory are her loving husband of 20 years, Jimmy Orlando; her children, William Wheeler, Karen Wheeler, David Wheeler and daughter-in-law Andrea, and her “favorite” son-in-law, Tim Anderson. Carolyn is also survived by her 8 grandchildren, Christopher, James, Lisa, Robert, Matthew, Sean, Haley, and Gabriel, 6 great-grandchildren, her sister Linda “Cherie” Board and brother-in-law Thomas Board, her niece Brandy Borden close family members Susan Somtherman, Steve Wheeler, and Phil Wheeler, as well as the family cat, Hank.

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