Carol Topping Baum

Carol Topping Baum died on September 9, 2023, at the DartmouthHitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. She was born December 21, 1938, in Houston,
Texas, to the late Charles and Gene (Walker) Topping. Carol grew up in New Castle, Delaware, and Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, while her father worked as a civil engineer for the DuPont Co. in Wilmington, Delaware.
Carol graduated from Swarthmore High School, then Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA. She met her husband Henry James (Jim) Baum at a Mt. Holyoke/Dartmouth Ski Weekend on Mt. Moosilauke, Warren, NH. They were married in Swarthmore on November 4, 1961, before Jim was required to report for military duty in the US Army. Carol went with him to Munich, Germany, where they lived until November 1963. Subsequently, they returned to Jim’s hometown Morris, Illinois, where they worked together at the Baum’s department store founded by Jim’s grandfather in 1874.
Carol belonged to the First Presbyterian Church of Morris for 50 years where she was active as a session member, trustee, and women’s association leader. She was also a Regent of the Morris Daughters of the American Revolution for a two-year term. Carol and Jim together received the Illinois “Retailers of the Year” award in 1997 from the Illinois Retail Merchants Association. In 2014 they moved to an apartment at the Kendal at Hanover retirement community, New Hampshire, where they happily lived their remaining years amidst the beautiful northern New England countryside. Carol was a member of the Congregational Church of Dartmouth College. Both Carol and Jim took an active interest in conservation measures in the Upper Valley. One of Carol’s last public acts (in July of this year) was to donate to the Conservation Commission of Hanover the Baum Conservation Area, consisting of 238 acres of woodlands with hiking trails on Moose Mountain.
Her husband, Jim, predeceased her by 5 months. Carol is survived by one brother, Thomas Topping, and his wife, Linda, of Naples, Florida, three nieces, one nephew, 2 grandnieces and 1 grandnephew. Carol was also predeceased by her sister, Cynthia Topping. A memorial service will be held Saturday, November 18, 2023 at 11:00 A.M. at the First Presbyterian Church in Morris with Rev. Stephen Sibson and Rev. Hope Sibson officiating. Doors will open at 10:30 am. Inurnment will take place at the Evergreen Cemetery in Morris.
Memorial donations can be made to the Community Foundation of Grundy County, 520 W. Illinois Ave., Morris, Illinois.
Fruland Funeral Home, 121 W. Jefferson St. in Morris is in charge of arrangements. For more information, call the funeral home at 815-942-0700 or sign the online guestbook at www.frulandfuneralhome.com .