By: Nicole Hamilton
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COLUMBIA TUSCULUM - Caroline Maxwell's seven children tried to get her and her husband, Edgar "Dutch" Maxwell, to consider moving into a smaller home once they were grown up and on their own.

Although she loved to travel, their mother could not be swayed to leave her 100-year-old house in the community she loved - Columbia Tusculum.

"She loved her old home," said Dutch Maxwell, her husband of 64 years.

Caroline L. Maxwell died May 12 of heart failure. She was 87.

"She was a mother to everybody, and a great listener. The front porch door was always open," said her son, Mark of Kenwood. "She cared about her children, and was very proud of them - but also cared deeply about the bigger community. And she was a very peaceful person, full of serenity."

Raised in Russellville, Ohio, she moved to Cincinnati in 1938 and married a year later.

Mrs. Maxwell became a fixture in the East End, volunteering almost daily - for years - at St. Stephen School, where her seven children attended.

"She was always helping people out. She did whatever she could," her husband said.

She worked in the school cafeteria, and at the parish festival, and served several times as president of St. Stephen's Ladies' Sodality Club.

In the 1960s, she was one of the founding members of the East End Community Health Center, making sure the center was funded, staffed and had supplies.

An active member of the Democratic Party, Mrs. Maxwell served as precinct executive, and was treasurer and secretary of the Democrat Club.

She also was active in the East End Community Council, Purcell High School Parents Club, Ursuline Academy Mothers Club, Columbia Parkway YMCA and the Hyde Park Senior Center.

A son, Jerry, preceded her in death in 1943.

Besides her husband and son Mark, other survivors include five sons, Jim of Aptos, Calif., John of Myrtle Beach, S.C., Joe of Temecula, Calif., Luke of New Richmond, and Chris of Villa Hills; a daughter, Mary Joe Beck of Grove City; two brothers, Art Wilson of Fort Lauderdale, and Delmar Lauderback of Wilmington; two sisters, June Wilson Crawford of Tampa, and Margaret Colleen Brulport of Maineville; and several nieces and nephews.

Services have been held.

Burial was in Guardian Angels Cemetery, Mount Washington.

Memorials may be made to St. Stephen Church, 3804 Eastern Ave.; Purcell Marion High School, 2935 Hackberry St., 45206; or Ursuline Academy, 5901 Pfeiffer Road, 45242.

E-mail nhamilton@enquirer.com