The Burlingames

We’re at our hotel in Madison, WI for Megan’s cousin’s wedding. We put Eli in bed a bit ago in the room and we’re now sitting in the lobby for a bit so he can fall asleep. Some sketchy looking dude just came in and checked in at the front desk. He looked familiar so I thought about it for a bit while he was standing there. Then it clicked; I did a quick image search online to compare and I was dead on. I was looking at Ron Jeremy: seventies/eighties porn star. Jeremy is widely regarded as the greatest porn star ever. A few minutes later the guy working the desk asked me if I saw who that was that just checked in. I asked if it was Jeremy and he said yes.

Now, I know you’re asking yourself “why does Dave know the face of an old porn star?” I heard about him in college during one of those weird late-night conversations in the dorms. He was also on a reality show called The Surreal Life back in 2004. No, I didn’t watch the show, but I did see plenty of commercials for it. Weird.

Caron L. Paulson age 55 of Clear Lake, WI, died suddenly on Wednesday evening, September 15, 2010 in an automobile accident in Clear Lake Township.

Caron Lee Paulson was born on May 10, 1955, in Richmond, Virginia, the daughter of Marshall & Florence (Lee) Hollingsworth. She moved with her family numerous times during her childhood to various cities throughout the southeastern United States. In 1972, Caron moved to New Berlin, WI and graduated from James Madison High School in 1973. After high school, she attended the University of WI at Eau Claire and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Language Pathology. She continued her education at Bowling Green State University in Ohio were she earned a Masters Degree in 1978. On September 3, 1978, Caron was married to Paul A. Paulson, Jr., in Eau Claire, WI and together they raised two daughters, Brianna & Megan. In 1982 they moved to Clear Lake, WI and she began working with CESA 11 in Turtle Lake and Prairie Farm. She has been teaching early childhood special education and as a speech therapist in Turtle Lake for over 25 years and had not lost a bit of passion for her students and pushing them to succeed. Caron was also an active member of the Reeve Evangelical Free Church, serving in many capacities there. Due to her daughter’s disabilities, Caron had a special place in her heart for Polk County Special Olympics. She had many roles in Special Olympics over the years, but most importantly she was their personal cheerleader. She loved gardening, snowmobiling, crocheting, stamping, & scrap booking. Caron also loved to watch the Food Network and enjoyed trying out new recipes. She especially loved spending time with her family and friends.

Caron is preceded in death by her parents, Marshall & Florence Hollingsworth, father-in-law Paul A. Paulson and sister-in-law Karen Wittstock.

Survived by

Husband

Paul Paulson, Jr. – Clear Lake, WI

Daughters.

Brianna Paulson – Clear Lake, WI

Megan (Dave) Burlingame – St. Paul Park, MN

Grandchildren

Eli Burlingame & his baby brother – St. Paul Park, MN

Brother

Richard Hollingsworth – Woodstock, GA

Mother-in-Law

Laurel Paulson – Clear Lake, WI

Brothers & Sisters-in-Law

Cheryl (Vern) Andren – Madison, WI

Craig (Diane) Paulson – Clear Lake, WI

Ron Wittstock – Amery, WI

And many nieces, nephews, family & friends

Visitation will be Monday, Sept. 20th from 4-8pm. Funeral will be Tuesday, Sept. 21st at 11am with a luncheon to follow. Both will be at Reeve Evangelical Free Church.

Reeve Evangelical Free Church
203 1-1/2 Street, CTH K
Clear Lake, WI 54005

Dave has very diligently been working on the basement for many months now. I’m so excited to say that we are still making headway. The downstairs bedroom (which will be Eli’s new bedroom) is all sheet rocked. The coat closet is now complete. Dave just needs to replace the stairs doing down to the lower level and repair/sheet rock the hallway. Then we can hire someone to come mud and tape the entryway, hallway, closet and bedroom. Once that is complete, we can paint, put carpet in and move Eli downstairs. Our hopeful goal is to have all of this done in the next 8 weeks (anyone wanna come help?!?!?).

Pray that we can continue to get work done and be productive in these last few weeks before the baby comes. Thanks friends!!

Today on our way to church Dave noticed he needed to get gas in his car, we made plans to stop on our way home. After church we decided to go visit our friend, Morgan Sheesley, in the hospital before heading home (please visit his caringbridge site to pray for him and his family, http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/morgansheesley).  We had a great visit with Morgan, he and Dave were able to swap stories about living with Crohn’s/Colitis. Eli and I spent some time wandering and playing in the halls.

As we were leaving the hospital we once again noticed the tank was getting empty but were hopeful we would have enough to get to the gas station. We were a mile from the gas station when the car stopped running, the car coasted about another 100 feet before coming to a complete stop. Dave decided to walk up to the gas station while Eli and I hung out in the car (Eli was napping) with all the windows down and a slight breeze coming through the windows. Mind you, it was very warm outside and in my current condition, I was over heating very quickly and had nothing to drink (I drank all my water). As soon as Dave started walking and cars were zooming past us, I started praying. I prayed that someone would be ever so gracious and stop to give him a ride. Dave made it about 30 feet down the road and a car stopped, the gentleman offered to give him a ride to the gas station. Once at the station Dave bought another gas can (ours was at home) and some gas. The gentleman was so gracious and waited for Dave to buy the gas can, fill it up and gave him a ride back to our car. An adventure that could’ve taken a hour, give or take a few, (Eli and I could’ve been way overheated or worse), only took a matter of minutes due to a wonderful, gracious gentleman. We pray a blessing over the random gentleman and his family!!

Dave said several times that God was watching over me, the baby and Eli. He said the 2-mile round trip walk would not have bothered him but he knew we would be the ones suffering. Again, we pray a blessing on that kind gentleman and his family.