09/14/2026
Dear CDCW Families,
It is with so much love (and more than a few tears) that we share that our dear Ms. Carol Thornton will be retiring after 31 incredible years at CDCW.
Ms. Carol has been part of CDCW since before CDCW was even fully a reality. She was one of the very first people my mom hired back in 1995, when this school was still a dream on the horizon. I have known Ms. Carol since I was just a kid, which makes it almost impossible for me to imagine CDCW without her.
Ms. Carol began her time here as a preschool teacher, and in 2003, when we opened our newly developed Avenues building, she made her way over there and created the art program that has become such a special part of our school.
For more than two decades, you could walk into the Avenues and find a smiling Ms. Carol sitting at the sewing machine with a child, firing up the kiln, helping a little one into an art smock, or encouraging a child to turn an idea into something beautiful.
And her work is quite literally all around us.
Our hallways are lined with quilts, paintings, sculptures, and artwork that began in Ms. Carol’s classroom. And as a parent myself, my own home is filled with artwork my children created with her. There are thousands of CDCW families who can say the same.
But Ms. Carol’s legacy here is about so much more than art.
She has brought warmth, beauty, strength, consistency, and incredible integrity to our school. She is dependable, steady, kind, and one of the strongest women I know.
For 31 years, she has shown up for CDCW, for our children, for our families, and for the people she works beside. Her impression on CDCW will never fade.
We are going to miss her more than we can possibly say. But after 31 years of giving so much of herself to others, we are also so happy that Ms. Carol gets to enjoy some well-deserved “me time”, to work on the projects she has been wanting to tackle, spend her days the way she chooses, and enjoy this next chapter.
Ms. Carol, thank you for helping build this school. Thank you for filling it with beauty. Thank you for loving generations of CDCW children. And thank you for being such an important part of our story.
We love you, Ms. Carol. ❤️ Congratulations on an extraordinary 31 years and a very well-deserved retirement! Please see the attached letter from Ms. Carol!
Sincerely,
Paige Kepner and the rest of the CDCW Family!
