Carol A. (Case) Drake

Carol Ann Drake was born in Pendleton Oregon on February 12th 1951 to Vernon Roy Case and Lula Marie Case. Carol was the sister to Jen Cygnus Case, Laurie Case and Russell Case. She was the loving wife to Hollis E. Drake III for 55 years and mother to Hollis E. Drake IV and Aileen Drake. She was the grandmother to Erica Stubblefield, Taylor Drake, Bryanna Vertz-Purcell, Evie Christiansen and Celeste Christiansen and great grandmother to Emma, Ayden and Alder Stubblefield as well as Lainey, Maddex and Leviathin Drake. Carol passed away after battling dementia for 10 years on March 3rd, 2026. 

Carol grew up on a ranch surrounded by wheat, barley, alfalfa, a half acre garden and hundreds of flowers. This also included a variety of well fed animals. She loved watching her Dad ride on his Case tractor and always helped her Mom with the canning and cooking. She would tell stories of growing up with her brothers, which were sometimes rough and tumble experiences. 

Her love of her home on the ranch grew into her love of nature. Spending her time hiking, fishing, camping and mushroom hunting. She took hundreds of photos of nature with impressive views and hundreds more of all the fish we caught, mushrooms we picked and huge rocks we took home to put in her garden. 

Carol met Hollis when he and his brother moved in with their grandparents just down the road from her ranch. They went to school together, and after school she would sit and talk with him as he would fix a car. She became friends with his cousins and other family shortly after and has remained close all these years. After high school, Carol went to Blue Mountain Community College and became a Certified Public Accountant. When the draft for the Vietnam war was put in place, Hollis entered the service voluntarily and Carol took a job in Portland, Oregon. Hollis got back in 1971 and they were married that same year, they were married for 55 years. They had their honeymoon in Hawaii and one year later they had Hollis Drake the IV. Five years later, Aileen was born. 

Carol was creative and crafty, working at Warehouse Sales and eventually running her own business, Drake’s Hobby and Outdoor Sports. If she was not working on a project at the shop she was in her craft and sewing room putting something together or crocheting in her chair in the living room. Later in life she drove the school bus, she loved driving the little kids around and telling us everything they did on the bus that day. 

Carol led an exceptional life but it was not without hardship and in that hardship she became a perfect example of resilience. This is evident from her struggles with mental health, surviving the loss of her son and in the end she suffered with Dementia for 10 years before it finally claimed her life. She is now at peace, no longer suffering and can go up to “The Spirit in the Sky” to be with her sister, her parents and her beloved son.