Carollee Deruyter Vernon

Vernon (DeRuyter), Carollee 1939-2021 Carollee Vernon died peacefully in her home on June 29, 2021, at the age of 82 after a long, determined, and brave battle with cancer. Carollee was a selfless mother, grandmother, sister, wife, and friend to many who love her and will miss her dearly. She was also a valedictorian, a teacher, a committed volunteer, and a philanthropist. Carollee was a small-town midwestern girl who grew up to travel the world. The second of four children born to James and Jeanette DeRuyter in Sioux Center, Iowa, she grew up enjoying the simple pleasures in life: walking to school, family picnics, collecting snakes to pester her big sister with, and later cheerleading with that same sister, summers at the lake, and of course fishing fishing fishing. She attended Iowa State University, where she led the marching band, twirling her baton as drum majorette and studied hard. She was Freshman Student-Athlete of the Year, and senior year she was named Mortar Board President, one of the school’s highest honors. She married her college sweetheart, Jim Balloun, and moved to Guam to be a navy wife. While in Guam, she survived typhoons, taught school, and learned that she did not particularly enjoy cooking. Most importantly, she made lifelong friendships with her Guam Gang, also stationed there from all over the United States. After Guam, Carollee and Jim moved to Boston and then San Mateo, California, where they started a family. Carollee was very involved with the local school, teaching and then helping to design their curriculum. She was also one of the unsung heroes in the preservation of Sugarloaf Mountain near San Mateo, California. In 1975, Carollee and her family moved to Tokyo, Japan, where she made more lifelong friends. She volunteered at Nishimachi School teaching physics and once again was asked to design the entire science curriculum. Tokyo served as a wonderful launchpad for her family’s subsequent travels. She researched and planned many trips to undiscovered cultural gems across the globe, sometimes alone and dragging two hot and tired children, all before the internet. She rode motorcycles with her kids on the back in Bali, played paddle tennis on rooftops in Tokyo, taught her kids to water ski on a lake in Kashmir, explored the bazaars of Istanbul, and the antique markets of London. She loved exploring the world and meeting and learning from people from different places. Her favorite place in all the world, though, was the small fishing lake in Minnesota, where she spent each summer with her extended family. In 1979, Carollee and her family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she volunteered, tutored, played tennis, and raised two wonderful children. She became a community leader with local organizations like Young Audiences, Agape Foundation, and the Heart Ball and found yet another group of great friends, some known as the intrepid “Buckhead Broads.” In 2006, Carollee's life changed yet again, and her journey took her to Bull Valley, Ilinois, when she married Bruce Vernon, a childhood friend from Sioux Center. Life there was very quiet, rural, cold, and peaceful - a dramatic contrast to Atlanta, Georgia. Here she reconnected to her midwestern roots, enjoyed her garden, and grew even closer to her extended family as she hosted biennial reunions at her beloved cabin in Stuart Lake, Minnesota. After Bruce passed away in 2012, Carollee happily moved back to Atlanta to be close to her friends and family. She often said, “The love of my life has been my friends.” Her happiest times were with friends, laughing and telling stories over a good meal. Carollee was a lifelong learner and immersed herself in many areas of knowledge. She was unafraid of research and asking questions, and her determination to thoroughly understand many subjects meant she was often, quietly, the smartest person in the room. (She would also hate for you to know that.) It was not uncommon for doctors, lawyers, bankers, or architects to ask if she’d practiced professionally in their various fields. She was a hard worker but did not “put on airs.” She was the subject of many superlatives throughout her life, but she always felt her best quality was that she was reliable. She was extraordinary and somehow wonderfully down to earth at the same time. She was always thinking of loved ones: mailing articles, making beds and dinner, trying her very best to set everyone up for success as best she could. She devoured books and sweets with equal abandon. She created richly detailed and illustrated family history books for each of her grandchildren. She made beautiful homes with treasures gathered from dusty barns and world travels. She turned an uncanny knack for investing into multi-generational charitable giving. She created lasting family traditions by graciously planning and hosting reunions and vacations. Carollee lived an adventurous life but also a simple one, marked by kindness, excellence, taste, and humor. Her family and friends are all better people for having known her. Carollee is survived by her children John Mark Balloun (Lisa) and Jill Elizabeth Balloun Webb (Bo). She is also survived by her grandchildren James Stanley Balloun II, John Mark Balloun Jr., Mack DeRuyter Wolf Webb, and Raney Holt Webb, by her brother James Arthur DeRuyter (Carla), her sister-in-law Donna DeRuyter Holmgren (Gary), by James Stanley Balloun (Julie), and by countless extended family members and wonderful friends who will feel her absence and celebrate her life. Carollee’s family would like to express our deepest gratitude to Hong Tran Thuy, dear friends, and the entire care team for taking such good care of her in her final weeks and months. A memorial service for the immediate family will be held lakeside in Minnesota. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made in Carollee’s honor to the Agape Youth and Family Center, where Carollee enjoyed tutoring, and to Trinity Presbyterian Church, where she found great solace and community.