Carol L DeLay Fraga

She was born the day after Christmas (and was thus christened as her parents' "Christmas Carol") while her father served as an Army Lieutenant in WW II in El Campo, Texas. She grew up in LaGrange, a suburb of Chicago, in a home in which her parents lived for 36 years. She attended Lyons Township High School, was an excellent student and was elected to the student counsel. As her high school was quite large (4,000 students), Carol decided to attend a smaller institution for college and so enrolled in Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. She majored in American Studies (political science and history) as she had developed an interest in public service and government policy. She was in the Washington Semester Program while in college experiencing politics and government in Washington, D.C. After graduation, Carol went abroad to Germany and traveled extensively throughout Europe. She moved to Manhattan with a girlfriend and landed a job as the private secretary of Margaret Mead, the famous Anthropologist. Carol wanted to further her education and after doing graduate work at Columbia, received her master's degree in urban planning from UCLA School of Planning and Urban Development. Upon graduation, she worked for Kennard, Delahousie & Gault Architecture and Planning firm in Los Angeles but then moved to Santa Monica and worked for the City as their Housing Rehabilitation Coordinator. There she met her future husband, Edward, who was then the City's Assistant Director of Data Processing. They were married in 1979 in the chapel at Pepperdine and their reception was at the Inn of the Seventh Ray in Topanga. In 1986 they moved from their townhouse in Santa Monica to Topanga near the Inn and lived there together for 36 years. In 1981, Carol went to work for the City of Culver City as a Planner and steadily rose through the ranks to become the Director of Urban Planning for the City, retiring in 2002. In her retirement, still believing in public service, Carol joined the Topanga Coalition for Emergency Preparedness (TCEP.org) and eventually became the Director of the Hotline, ensuring the TCEP phone was always answered but especially during local emergencies, to provide accurate, current information to the residences. Carol performed these duties for many years until she was no longer able to do so. She and Ed traveled extensively all over the world, usually in the company of their good friends, John and Jan. They went on trips to Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, the Baltic Counties, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Tanzania, Argentina, the Falkland's, Antarctica, Uruguay, Galapagos, Ecuador and Peru. Carol and Ed also traveled to Portugal and the Azores, China, Japan, Hawaii, Alaska, Mexico, Israel, Turkey, Greece and most of Europe. Carol departed this world amid the "Palisades Fire" which threatened her home and joined the angels, pain-free, on January 13, 2025. She had a 2-year debilitating illness beginning with a very rare, never-smoker, lung cancer together with other morbidities. She was 81 years old. She is survived by her husband, Edward Fraga, and her siblings, Lorna Gershon, Margaret Palmer and Alan Patterson DeLay as well as her nephews, Richard, Mark, and David Gershon, William Palmer, and Patrick Alan DeLay. She is also survived by Lorraine Fraga Holton, Jack, Steven, Michael Holton and family, and Bernadine Fraga Hake, Rick, Anthony, Kenneth Hake and family, and Susan Maria Harris, Mark and family as well as her many friends, colleagues and neighbors. Carol loved flowers and you can order them through the mortuary but if you would rather, you can make a donation to the Topanga Coalition for Emergency Preparedness (TCEP.org), which remains instrumental in protecting the Topanga Community she loved. Carol L DeLay Fraga, 81 of Topanga, California, died on Monday, January 13, 2025, in Santa Monica, California. Carol was born to Frank DeLay and Gretchen Patterson on December 26, 1943 in Texas. Celebration Of Life services will be held 7pm Friday, January 24th, 2025 at Salser & Dillard Funeral Chapel, 127 E. Caldwell Ave., Visalia. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 9am Saturday, January 25th, 2025 at St. Mary's Catholic Church, 608 N. Church Street, Visalia, with burial to immediately follow at Visalia District Cemetery, 1300 W Goshen Ave, Visalia. Services have been entrusted to Salser & Dillard Funeral Chapel. Memorial Tributes and condolences may be offered by logging onto www.salseranddillard.com.

Carol L DeLay Fraga

December 26, 1943 - January 13, 2025