Carol Ann (Miller) Durney, age 78, of Newark, DE, passed away peacefully on Thursday, May 18, 2023.

Carol was born in New York, NY. During her first 7 years she lived in Manhattan, in third grade, her family moved to Elmont, Long Island, to share a duplex with relatives. In 1955, her father was hired by the DuPont Company, and they moved to Delaware. Three years later, she was ready to attend the newly built Mount Pleasant High School when she found out they were moving again...this time to Claymont. She graduated from Claymont High School in 1962 after four years as a Business major, and then a year at Goldey-Beacom Business College, learning to use various business machines. She worked in various business offices for a few years but began looking for something different.

An opening for a "Training Aide", working for the State of DE and helping children with mental and physical handicaps, led to 4 years of job happiness, and it helped her decide what she wanted to do with her life. Carol made the difficult decision to attend the University of Delaware full-time, training to become a teacher, and quit her full-time job. She continued to work 2-3 part-time jobs for the next 5 years. She graduated with a BA in English Education in 1975. For the next 7 years, she worked in two State of Delaware positions: Counselor at Gov. Bacon Health Center with troubled youth 12-18 years, and then Account Executive at the Delaware Department of Labor. It was there that she met her husband, Bill Durney. Finally, in 1981, she found her perfect job - Special Education Teacher at the Terry Children's Psychiatric Center (TCPC). During her probationary period, she needed to take courses to get fully certified to teach special education. The opportunity presented itself that she could complete these requirements at night and get a Master of Instruction (MI) at the same time. She received her MI in 1983 and worked 22 years at her dream job until she retired after over thirty years of State of Delaware service in 2003.

She was always a voracious reader, but eventually Carol found art. From copying images to drawing, and from coloring to painting, she tried many genres until she found pastel painting. She invested a lot of time and money in books and videos of drawing and painting with pastels and taught herself how to evaluate good artists and good materials, and how to effectively paint with them. Her house is still filled with books, videos, and multiple brands of pastels in every conceivable color.

In 2009 Carol and her husband became students at the Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the University of Delaware. When registering, she was asked to consider teaching one or more courses as well as being a student. The following year she offered to assist the beginning pastel instructor, who eventually had to stop teaching. She took on the class alone, and continued teaching at OLLI for 14 years, hoping to instill in her students the love she felt for pastel painting. Within a few semesters, she also began teaching the Advanced Pastels class, which eventually included many of her beginners. She loved her students' 'aha' moments, when they said "Hey, this is fun!" That, she said, made her day as a teacher. Carol also taught-and-played Mahjong at OLLI for years.

Carol is predeceased by her parents, M. Robert (Murray) and Evelyn Miller. She leaves behind her husband, Bill Durney; her brother (Bob); two children (Renay & Joshua); eight grandchildren (Anthony, Codi, Mikey, Dylan, Jayden, Logan, William, and Joey); and two great grandchildren (Jeremiah & Nevaeh).

A Celebration of Life gathering will be held at the Mealey Funeral Home, 2509 Limestone Rd, Wilmington, DE 19808 on Wednesday, May 31, 2023, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made to a charity of your choice.