Carol Sobek

Carol Jean Connelly Sobek

Born in Columbus, Indiana on September 26, 1930 to Raymond P. Armstrong and Catherine Hewitt Armstrong, Carol spent her early years in Columbus being loved and cared for by her parents and her grandparents, Solomon& Clara Armstrong and Roy & Mary Hewitt. She attended school in Columbus until her parents moved to Indianapolis in about 1940. Carol attended and graduated from Arsenal Technical High School as part of the class of ’48.

After graduation, Carol went to work for the J. I. Case Company as a member of the office staff in the Indianapolis offices. While working there, she met William (Bill) E. Connelly and they were married in August of 1948. They initially lived in Indianapolis but shortly their work took them to Lansing, Michigan.

Carol’s two daughters, Sandra and Catherine were born in Lansing in 1951 and 1955, respectively. While in Lansing, Carol developed a number of close friendships with neighbors. Carol enjoyed sewing and attended classes in the Lansing area with her friends to learn more about it. She became so skilled that the daughter of one of her close friends later asked Carol to make her wedding dress. She completed it in one evening!

In about 1960, Carol and Bill moved back to the Indianapolis area purchasing a house in the Eastwood addition just east of Franklin Road. Carol started working at the Naval Avionics Facility in about 1963 as a secretary in the Research Department. In addition to her work with the Navy, Carol was actively involved in raising her two girls and seeing them through their school years. Carol joined and ultimately served as president of the local Parent Teacher Organization chapter.

While in Lansing, Carol had learned to play contract bridge and through most of her life played in a monthly bridge club. She also participated in one or more euchre clubs. She enjoyed hosting card parties for her friends and they always enjoyed coming to her home. She was the best of hostesses, usually preparing special appetizers herself rather than buying them.

During these years, Carol was also moving up in her work at Naval Avionics. By 1968, Carol had become the secretary to the Research Department Head, Mr. J. Fred Peoples. Recognizing Carol’s potential, Fred invited her to become more and more involved in the organization’s projects. She helped in the preparation of presentations to the various local and government dignitaries that occasionally come to the facility.

In 1968, Carol’s marriage with Bill ended and her life revolved primarily around her children who were now in high school and her work with the Navy.

In July of 1969, Carol met Jim Sobek who was a physicist, also in the Research Department. They were married on February 14, 1970. Sandy had by now graduated from John Marshall High School. By June 1970, Carol and Jim had decided that they wanted to get out of the city and move to the country where they could have sufficient land for the horse that Cathy had been boarding on Post Road. They moved to the Greenfield area on June 6, 1970 to a home with five acres. With the horse suitably situated, Carol’s father soon “gave” the family two retired racing ponies. Cathy was now enrolled in Greenfield Central High School and became active in many activities with her friends and classmates.

In 1971, Sandy married Gary Canada and they moved Crawfordsville where Gary was still in school at Wabash. Grandchildren began to come on the scene in 1972 with the arrival of Cory that November. Cathy graduated from Greenfield Central in May of 1973. Sandy and Cathy both attended Indiana University for a period of time.

Summers in the Greenfield area included swimming in the pool that was installed in 1976 and taking care of the large garden with plenty of food to give to friends, family and neighbors. Times were always interesting there. One Saturday morning, Cathy shouted, “There are cows in the yard!” She mounted her horse (bareback) and rounded them all up with the help of the neighbors. One fall, the entire family road their bicycles to Tuttle’s Orchard to buy pumpkins…never thinking about how they were going to get the pumpkins back home…

In 1983, Naval Avionics had inaugurated a program to create a Special Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) to support the highly classified work that was being undertaken at what had now become the Naval Avionics Center. Carol had been providing support to a number of those programs that would be run out of that facility and several of her colleagues had concluded that she was just the person to take on managing the SCIF’s day-to-day operations. As testimony to her capacity in the field, Carol had been asked to do a presentation to the employees of the Center on what had become known under President Reagan as the Star Wars program.

In February of 1983, Carol attended a week-long class at the Naval Operations Base, Norfolk, Virginia to learn the information and procedures she would have to follow as Scientific and Technical Intelligence Officer (STILO). Highly respected within the SCI world, Carol regularly participated in meetings in Washington, Philadelphia, and other locations which to this day she did not disclose. It was not uncommon for her to tell Jim that while she was away she could be reached by calling certain Washington numbers while it was clear to him that she was not in that city. Although, never admitted, it became clear that she had substantial knowledge about restaurants and shopping centers in Dallas, San Diego and Burbank, places where she and Jim had not visited together but where many military contractors were doing work on highly classified programs.

By 1993 when she retired, Carol had been promoted to Special Security Officer (SSO) and was now in charge of overseeing the security procedures for all the SCI programs being carried out within the Center. Carol was the first woman at Naval Avionics to have attained the GS-13 position.

Carol was involved in mission planning aspects of the Tomahawk cruise missile programs, the development of the F-22 Raptor, certain weapons control systems and other programs that never saw public daylight. Only her colleagues know all the areas in which she worked. The evening news gave some insight occasionally when a particular program would be mentioned and Carol would show specific interest to certain comments. Carol voraciously read all the Tom Clancy books, often confirming (sometimes denying) specific knowledge of the details disclosed in those books. Often, she would express concern that some the information in the books should not be public.

During her work and after retirement, Carol and Jim traveled to various parts of the country including Hawaii and a cruise through the inside passage to Alaska. She agreed that this trip was the best with river rafting, glacier viewing and a fully pleasant time at sea.

Carol loved gardening and they had a large garden when they lived in the Greenfield area. At more recent homes, she continued that hobby with flower gardens and occasional tomato plants. She also spent many hours reading a wide variety of genres.

After retirement, Carol spent a great deal of time caring for and enjoying family. The strong moral values that Carol learned from her grandparents and parents she passed on to her family. Stories abound about all the things that “Grandma” and “Great” has taught.

Carol passed away on August 27, 2016 after a number of years of slow decline as the result of a stroke in 2009. She is survived by her husband (Jim), her two daughters (Sandra J. Turville and Catherine C. Johnson, three grandchildren (Cory, Joe and Kellen) and four great-grandchildren (Jayden, Julia, Jonah and Ryan). She will be deeply missed by all who knew her and we will fondly honor the memories in her “memory jar” for years to come.

Visitation will be on held on Friday, September 2nd at Flanner and Buchanan-Geist, 7855 Cork Road, Indianapolis, IN 46236 from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, September 3rd at 2:00p.m. in Flanner and Buchanan-Memorial Park 9350 E Washington St, Indianapolis, IN 46229. Interment will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery. On-line condolences may be shared at www.flannerbuchanan.com.

Flower donations to the familycan be purchased through Penny's Florists in Greenfield, IN. (317)462-5863 in memory of Carol.