Culliton, Carolyn A. (nee Olsen), 88, beloved wife of the late James D. Culliton for 46 years, loving mother of Cynthia (Peter Gerritsen) Graf, Linda (Gregg) Whittlesey, Patricia (Mick Walsh) Culliton and the late James A. (the late Victoria) Culliton, beloved daughter of the late Albert W. and the late Eleanor (nee Braun) Olsen, dear sister of the late Eleanor Jean (the late Richard) Lauritzen. Carolyn adored her six grandchildren, Jeffrey and the late James T. Culliton, Christiana and Thomas Morgenroth, Jack and Kathleen Graf. "Aunt Becky" is also survived by many dear nieces and nephews. Visitation 10:00-11:00 a.m., followed by a brief service Saturday, April 6th at Olson Burke/Sullivan Funeral Home, 6467 N. Northwest Hwy. (1 blk. N. of Devon), Chicago. Procession following to Mount Emblem Cemetery in Elmhurst for internment. Info: 773-774-3333.

Carolyn Culliton was born in the Hermosa Park neighborhood of Chicago in 1936. She grew up in the same home that her mother was born in at 2224 N Kildare. Her dad jokingly called her “Becky Bigfoot” as a toddler when she tripped over her toy train . The shortened nickname “Becky” stuck throughout her life, with mostly only strangers and clients calling her Carolyn.  She attended Nixon Elementary and Kelvyn Park High School where she was a popular student and member of the tumbling squad. She was known for walking around and up/down stairs on her hands as part of her acrobatic routine!

After graduating from Kelvyn in 1954 she went on to study hairdressing at Pivot Point beauty school, a profession she enjoyed until 2002. She and Jim Culliton (aka “Duke”) fell in love, marrying in 1958. They went on to have four children and in 1962 bought a home in Chicago’s Oriole Park neighborhood, where they lived out both their lives, until 2004 and 2024 respectively.  She created a beauty shop in the basement of the family home and became the hairdresser to dozens of neighbors, most of whom came to her on a weekly basis from the 1960s through the 1990s.  She also spent many fun times going to concerts and sporting events with Jim and his clients as an executive with Pepsi-Cola. She was a lifelong Cubs fan, going to hundreds of games and enjoying being a season ticket holder for several years.  She also got to enjoy seeing two of her kids and one of her grandkids throw out the first pitch at Wrigley Field.  She loved Elvis, and though she never got to see him in concert, she did see many great acts multiple times from Sinatra to Sammy Davis and Liza Minnelli, to U2 and Bruce Springsteen. She also loved to travel and went to Ireland several times. She cruised around and visited all of northern Europe as well as South America. 

She had a serious sweet tooth and never met a cookie, cake, pie or donut that she didn’t love! She also truly came to love dogs later in her life, none more than Irish Setters. She had four of them over the last thirty years. But what she really loved most of all was her family.  She had four children and six grandchildren, all of whom she was incredibly proud. Her son Jim followed in his father’s steps working for Pepsi for decades.  She and husband Jim put all three of their daughters through college, and all six of her grandchildren are also college graduates – which is something she was incredibly proud of.  She used to remind us that education is something that can never be taken from you. She treasured every moment with her grandchildren, whom she babysat frequently both here in Chicago and by traveling out to California.  She suffered the terrible loss of her son Jim and her grandson Jimmy, but her ever-present resiliency pulled her through those tragedies.  Never was her strength and resiliency more evident than with her own will to live.  She enjoyed generally excellent health until the very last few years of her life when she began to incur frequent infections. She endured over 30 serious systemic infections over the last three years and continued to surpass medical expectations by surviving all but that very last one that claimed her life at age 88. Her optimism, her kindness and her good humor will echo throughout her loved ones’ lives for decades to come.