Carole Anita Toppin

Carole Anita Toppin, age 77, died at Parkview Nursing and Rehabilitation, Wilmington, Delaware, on September 11, 2022.

Carole was a native Delawarean. Weighing only 2 lbs. and 3 oz at birth, Carole, like a lot of preemies, caught-up quickly and held onto her place as first-born with utmost tenacity. More thinker than talker, Carole was believed to be a good listener. Her siblings, Virginia, Billie, and William, questioned this. However, they knew better than to say anything because Carole would go silent. Silence was her way of talking without words. She did that a lot. Still, as someone nobody seems to remember, once said, “We are who we are.” Carole knew who she was and what she liked: cats, ballet, Feby’s Fishery, chocolate milkshakes, and books…lots of books.

After graduating from De La Warr High School, Carole worked in retail before landing a job at the Department of Labor, where her tendency to think more than talk was at first suspect and then appreciated. Carole did her best, and for this and so much more, she is greatly missed by her surviving siblings, Virginia and Billie, her sister-in-law, Gail Toppin (William), nieces, Kimberly Bailey and Gina Travalini-Rubini (Justin), nephews, William Toppin, Aiden Rubini, Marco Rubini, and Lucca Rubini.

A private celebration of life will be held.