Carol Dinan baked more than 300,000 cookies over her lifetime, stocking her husband’s coffee breaks and filling 13,000 school lunches for their six children.
Every two months — as much as she was allowed — she was at the hospital to give blood, donating 12 gallons during her 85 years and helping hundreds of lives.
As an educator, she taught math to thousands of students during 27 years at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School.
And after retiring, she continued to teach to her grandchildren over FaceTime, embracing the concept of distance learning before it was popular in mainstream education.
Carol, a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and teacher, died Dec. 27.
Born Carol Elizabeth Enzler in Dubuque, Iowa, she spent the formative years of her life in Bethesda as the second-oldest of 13 children. She attended Clarke College in Dubuque, then obtained master’s degrees from Fordham University and the University of Notre Dame, which is where she met John “Jack” Dinan.
They married at Our Lady of Lourdes church in Bethesda in 1967, and lived 58 years in a partnership of Christian values.
She had an astonishing ability to have a homemade dinner on the table every day at 6 o’clock, while juggling the preferences of six children and the schedules of their activities. She made it a priority to be at home each day to greet her children when they returned from school.
Her sewing room was a refuge. She stitched everything from birthday cards to clothes for the family — at one point making matching bathing trunks for Jack and the four boys.
Mathematics was a passion, first as a tutor and then at Georgetown Visitation. She was fond of mnemonics as learning aids, always reminder her students to “show your work,” and loved math puns. Her favorite T-shirt read: “My password is the last 8 digits of pi.”
Books rivaled math. She devoured several a week, and belonged to multiple book clubs. Another favorite T-shirt read: “So many books, so little time.”
She volunteered at Catholic Charities DC and was a member of the Basilica of St. Mary in Old Town. She taught religious education classes at three parishes.
She is survived by her husband; children John Dinan (Magdalena Krajewska), Mark Dinan (Maura), Andrew Dinan (Sandy), Stephen Dinan (Tasha Diakides), Erin Fontenot (Michael) and Sarah Dinan; grandchildren Charlie, Nina, Michael, Paul, Veronica and Katarina Dinan; Patrick, Colleen, Bryce, Molly, Isabelle, John Paul and Sebastian Fontenot; Anna Kaminski; and Sister Marie Bernadette of the Immaculate Conception, of the Poor Clare Sisters; two great-grandchildren, Joseph and Clement Dinan (and a third on the way); and 10 of her brothers and sisters: Marge Enzler, Kathy Brooker, Msgr. John Enzler, Connie Regan, Jim Enzler, Jerry Enzler, David Enzler, Eileen “Teensie” O’Brien, Tom Enzler and Brenda English.
Funeral arrangements are being handled by Demaine Funeral Home in Alexandria.
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