Carrie (Chivington) Roeth receives a hug from former teacher Fredia Summers during a spring fundraiser at Miami East High School for the Roeth family. Carrie’s son, Jacob, is held in the background by Jessie Roeth. Staff Photo/ANTHONY WEBER
A positive impact
Carrie Roeth’s friends consider themselves blessed to have known ‘top-notch person’
Rather than curse the darkness, Connie Strehle is going to praise the light.
And rather than focus on the time she won't have with Carrie (Chivington) Roeth, Strehle is going to focus on the time she did have with Roeth, who passed away Friday morning after a three-year battle with cancer.
"I feel blessed to have known Carrie for the 15 to 18 years I did know her," said Strehle, who was Roeth's principal at Miami East High School and her principal again when Roeth became an elementary school teacher in the Vandalia school system. "If that's the time God gave me with Carrie, I'm fine with that."
That's the sentiment echoed by many who knew Roeth, a 1999 Miami East graduate. Many of those who came into contact with Roeth remember her as a stellar athlete, an outstanding teacher and a loving wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend.
"She had such a positive attitude," said Vandalia-Butler High School Athletic Director Roger Bowen. Bowen was Roeth's track and field coach at Miami East and her athletic director when she was an assistant track and field coach and junior high girls basketball coach in Vandalia. "She was a hard worker, very dedicated. She was just a top-notch person - just talk to anybody who knew her."
Roeth connected with many in the Miami East community through her exploits on the athletic field. She earned 12 varsity letters for the Vikings, excelling at soccer, basketball and track. One of the most decorated athletes in school history, she twice led the East girls basketball team to the Division III state final four, including a state runner-up finish her senior season.
"She was always so positive and so coachable," Bowen said. "She always did anything you ever asked of her."
She also was very active in her church. Her father, David, spent a number of years as pastor of the Fletcher United Methodist Church. He survives, as does her mother, Roxy; brothers Aaron, Ryan and Nathan; husband Justin; and a 3-year-old son, Jacob.
"Even when she was in high school, she always had a more mature outlook on life. She was always very Christian-based," said Noelle Mumpower-Davis, Roeth's high school soccer coach and a close friend of the family. "Everything she said and everything she did was always Christian-based.
"Everyone sort of looked up to her. Even when she was a freshman, the older kids respected her and looked up to her. Carrie never had to do anything to earn that respect - it was always just kind of given to her because of the type of person she was."
She had that same respect in the classroom as a teacher, Strehle said.
"I never once heard Carrie raise her voice - she never had to," she said. "She was always able to take care of issues without raising her voice. This is such a loss to our school. There is no way to replace her. She always put the kids first. She never put herself or anyone else first - it was always about the kids.
"You never heard her complain once the entire time she was battling cancer. She just wouldn't do it. That just wasn't Carrie."
As a result of her impact on the playing field, in church and in the classroom, the community rallied around Roeth during her illness. Hundreds in the small, close-knit community attended a fundraiser for Roeth two months ago, raising tens of thousands of dollars to help pay for her medical bills.
"I can't even begin to tell you how many lives she touched," Strehle said. "From her dealings with church to coaching to teaching, she touched so many lives."
Of all the lives she touched, however, Strehle said none were affected by her more than her family.
"She followed Justin in all of his endeavors," she said. "Whatever Justin did, there was Carrie and Jacob. She told me this winter she was tired, but she would never miss anything Justin did while he was coaching (basketball at Miami East). What more dedication could you ask from a spouse?"
Mumpower agreed.
"The other day when I was at the hospital (in Indianapolis), Christie Dodane, her high school basketball coach, walked in," Mumpower-Davis said. "I thought, 'What more fitting tribute is there?' Here we were, hoping we impacted her life as coaches, but it turns out she was the one who had impacted us as a young woman. She is someone who will never be forgotten."
