Carol (Caroline) B. McNall

Carol (Caroline) B. McNall

Cedar Rapids

Carol (Caroline) B. McNall, RN, peacefully passed away in her sleep on Sunday, September 29, 2024, in her Cedar Rapids home.

Carol was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Donald Brown and Luella Caroline McBain. She graduated from Washington High School and St. Luke’s School of Nursing, in Cedar Rapids. Carol spent most of her career working as a dedicated registered nurse (RN) and charge nurse in intensive care units (ICU) and cardiac care units (CCU) of various hospitals. Carol was proud to be a certified Critical Care Registered Nurse (CCRN).

After graduating from nursing school, Carol moved to Des Moines, Iowa to start working in the ICU/CCU at Des Moines General Hospital. Carol relocated to Denver, Colorado where she accepted a position in the CCU at Lutheran Medical Center in Wheatridge. While working in Des Moines and Wheatridge, Carol carried on a long-distance love affair with Todd McNall who was attending Texas Tech in Lubbock, whom she had met through a mutual friend, Marci Aliss Hanson, at the Eastside MaidRite in Cedar Rapids while in nursing school.

Carol moved to Lubbock to be with Todd while he attended graduate school. Carol worked in the Surgical/Trauma ICU at University Medical Center. On January 9, 1993, Carol married Todd, her best friend and the love of her life, in their hometown of Cedar Rapids. After Todd’s graduation, they moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Carol joined the Trauma/Surgical ICU at University of NM Hospital. While living in Albuquerque, Carol gave birth to their two daughters, Michelle and Allyson.

In the early 2000s, they decided to move back to Cedar Rapids to raise their daughters in the Midwest near their families. Carol joined Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids. First working in the ICU/CCU and then Noninvasive Cardiology and Cardiopulmonary Rehab. Carol retired in 2019 however continued to volunteer her time to local organizations including the Genealogical Society of Linn County, Iowa.

Carol was extremely proud of her years of nursing because she highly valued helping, caring for, and supporting others. During her career, Carol received an AACN Excellence in Bedside Nursing Award and a Distinguished Nurse Award for TSICU along with many other professional accolades.

Carol fought a heroic, gallant, and fierce battle against cancer but never let it control her life. She made it a point to do the things she enjoyed and to focus on her family. Carol’s favorite hobbies included reading, gardening, Hawkeye sports, Indy car racing, and she especially loved being involved with and supporting the hobbies and endeavors of their daughters. Carol supported their daughters taking dance and taekwondo by helping them get to their classes and attending numerous recitals and tournaments. Carol not only supported both of their daughters’ interest in horseback riding, but she decided to take riding lessons and ended up volunteering to help and assist with the daily care of the horses at Greenbrier Stable where they rode.

Those left to honor her memory include her loving husband, Todd; and two wonderful daughters, Michelle McNall of Omaha, Nebraska, and Allyson McNall of Iowa City, Iowa; a brother, Donald and sister-in-law Rhonda McBain, her niece, Ray and nephew, Colin of Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin; several aunts, and cousins with their families and her dad’s second wife, Jan Gorman McBain and her family.

A celebration of life for family and friends will be held this upcoming spring of 2025. Information regarding the details of the celebration of life will be posted by members of the McNall Family. If you would like to ensure that you receive details regarding Carol’s celebration of life, please reach out to the members of the McNall Family.

The family would like to thank the folks at Mercy Hospice home care who made this transition so much less painful.

Arrangements will be made by Cedar Memorial Funeral Home. Please leave a message or condolences for the McNall family at www.cedarmemorial.com under “obituaries.”

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made to the American Cancer Society for research.