Carolyn Marie Sowden passed away at her home in Renville, Minnesota, on October 28, 2026. She was two weeks past her fifty-fifth birthday. A sister and daughter, her family loved her and misses her.

Born in Rochester, MN, on October 13, 1971, Carolyn spent the first fifteen years of her life in rural southeast Minnesota. There, she cultivated her love of the outdoors and her innate creativity. On warm days, swinging on the swingset was one of her favorite pastimes. She loved walking through the small woods at the edge of the property and exploring the adjoining pasture with her siblings.

As a teenager, she began teaching herself to play the piano, then took guitar lessons. Her ability to hear the bass guitar in rock songs and invent perfect harmonies to any melody left her elder sister in awe. Carolyn also wrote numerous songs, including a tribute for that same sister as she was preparing to leave for college. The song, entitled "It's Time to Move On," acknowledged her sister's need to move forward in her life while expressing sorrow at the separation.

But Carolyn's creative abilities didn't stop there. By her mid-teens, she had discovered herself to be a natural crafter and artist. She sewed clothes for dolls and created life-like miniature pieces of furniture for a dollhouse that became a hobby she carried well into adulthood. She craved beauty and shared her talents; her younger sister still treasures the Christmas ornaments that Carolyn tatted.

A few years after obtaining her GED diploma, she moved onto a homestead in Renville and married. There she fulfilled her dream of learning to ride and work with horses. The rural environment also provided the sanctuary she craved, and a place to engage with nature by gardening and maintaining the property.

Sadly, Carolyn suffered from mental illness that limited her ability to see its impact on her life and decisions; her final decision was to end her own life.

Carolyn is survived by her mother, Mary Kostner; her brother, Jonathon Sowden; her older sister, Emily Jacques (Jerry); and her younger sister, Monica Sowden (Pramod Kelkar). She is also survived by her niece and nephew, as well as her ex-husband, Kelly Roth, who provided for her even after their divorce.

A brief service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, November 4, at Calvary Cemetery in Rochester, MN.