Oceanside CA— Carolyn was dedicated to promoting art in North County San Diego since the late 1990s. It was her dream that OMA would become a cultural mecca that would draw people from across the region, celebrating diversity and honoring art as the interconnecting language of people of all ages, ethnicities, and socio-economic groups. Carolyn was a member of the OMA board of trustees, serving as both vice president (2009-10) and president (2011-12). She chaired the membership and development committees and served on numerous other committees.
Over the years, Carolyn contributed graphic design services for OMA marketing materials, and ultimately helped to develop the branding guide for graphic standards for OMA. Carolyn received the OMA Volunteer of the Year Award presented by the North County Philanthropy Council in 2010 and also received the OMA Medal of Distinction for significant volunteerism in 2014.
Carolyn was instrumental in developing and managing several collaborative events that connected OMA to the Jewish community; she helped to bring the exhibition Fabric of Survival to OMA in 2009, and organized a showing of the film Shanghai Ghetto at OMA in 2010. Given her love of music as well as art, she created and chaired the OMA fundraiser That’s Amore for three successive years, along with helping to organize a multitude of important OMA events and fundraisers.
Carolyn’s passion for the arts in the community led her to go beyond OMA and serve as chair of the City of Oceanside arts commission as well as a member of the board of Oceanside Cultural Arts Foundation.
“Carolyn had a heartfelt love of art and a strong commitment to making art an integral part of our city and north county community,” said Marilyn Agredano, president of OMA board of trustees.
“Carolyn inspired us; she showed us what could be. She gave her heart and soul in an effort to create a better and more beautiful community and she succeeded. She was a gift to OMA and to all of us who loved her,” said past OMA board president, Cheryl Weiner.
Carolyn is survived by her husband, David Mickelson, and leaves behind an enormous group of cherished community friends whom she affectionately referred to as “her angels.”