Carol J. Thompson Falk

Carol Joyce Thompson Falk, PhD (1929 – 2009) moved to Nebraska City in 1994, after she and her husband, Laurence L. Falk, both retired from Concordia College in Morehead, Minnesota. Carol planned to quilt during her retirement, and that, she indeed did do.

Over the next 15 years, Falk created over 50 quilts that she displayed at local, state, and national quilt shows. She was taken aback when told by a reporter that her very first completed quilt had won “best of show” at the Lincoln State Fair. A majority of her quilts won various awards. After her passing in 2009, two of Falk’s quilts were accepted into the permanent collection of the International Quilt Study Center & Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska. Falk was posthumously inducted into the Nebraska State Quilt Guild Hall of Fame in 2017. Falk believed there was room in quilting for many different talents from simplest to hardest and traditional to contemporary, and felt that every quilt should be treated as a piece of art.

Carol J. Thompson Falk was born in Boone County Iowa, where she lived as a child, until her family relocated to Loman, Minnesota. In 1951, she married Laurence Falk in Wichita Falls, Texas while Laurence was serving in the U.S. Air Force. Carol worked in various accounting departments while Laurence was earning his various degrees. After Laurence’s Seminary graduation, the couple moved to Milford, Nebraska where Laurence was assigned as pastor of the Evangelical United Brethren Church. Carol worked as a secretary for the University of Nebraska’s English Department while Laurence completed his Ph.D. The Falks then moved to Moorhead Minnesota, where Laurence accepted a position in the Sociology/Social Work Department. There, Carol completed her Bachelor’s degree followed by an M.A. degree in English at North Dakota State University. Carol then joined Laurence as a faculty member of Concordia College in the English Department, where she worked until retirement in 1994. During her tenure at Concordia College, Carol was the first to receive a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of North Dakota and was integral in stewarding Concordia’s English Department into the computer age.