Carolyn Craig Franklin, wife of vice president emeritus Carl M.
Franklin, died peacefully Thursday, April 1, aboard the Cunard liner
Sea Goddess II, while she was accompanying her husband on a vacation
cruise in the Indian ocean. A resident of Los Angeles, she was 73.

Born in 1919 in Washington Court House, Ohio, Franklin received her
A.B. degree in 1941 from Denison University, where she was a founding
member of the Beta Zeta chapter of Delta Gamma sorority. She earned
her master’s degree in library science at Simmons College in 1942 and
served as librarian of LaSalle Junior College in Massachusetts until
1943.

Franklin then volunteered to join the Navy WAVES, where she met her
husband, Navy Lt. Carl Franklin She was stationed as a
communications officer in San Francisco, and she participated in
sending Japanese surrender terms to Gen. Douglas MacArthur at the
close of World War II. She married Franklin in 1944, and they moved
to Los Angeles in 1953, when he began teaching at the Law Center.

“Mrs. Franklin has for many years been a tireless volunteer whose
work on behalf of USC has touched the lives of both students and
faculty,” said president Steven B. Sample.

“She contributed greatly to the quality of life at the University,
and we will miss her lively and engaging personality,” he added.

She was active in USC organizations, serving as president of Faculty
Wives, 1970 to 1972, and as president of Town and Gown, 1980 to 1982.
A quiet but enthusiastic fund raiser, she helped build the Town and
Gown scholarship endowment funding from $175,000 in 1970 (enough to
fund only four scholarships) to more than $12 million currently
(enough to fund more than 190 scholarships).

In addition to asking others for scholarship funds, she herself
donated $170,000 to establish two Town and Gown scholarship
endowments. She was honored by the Law Center in 1987 with the
establishment of the Carolyn Craig Franklin Chair in Law. She was
active in the Westchester Garden Club and the Westchester High School
Adult Education literature class for more than 20 years.

Franklin is survived by her husband; her brother Joseph Craig, of San
Carlos, Calif.; her children, Craig, Sterling, Larry and Priscilla;
and her grandchildren, Scott, Justin, Leland and Andrew Franklin,
and Thomas and Anne Overton. A memorial service in celebration of
Franklin’s life was held at Town and Gown on Saturday, April 17.

[Photo:] Carolyn Craig Franklin

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