Carole Ann Appelquist, 90, of Coyne Center, Milan, went to join her Heavenly Father, on June 16, 2026, at Silvis Center, Silvis, Illinois surrounded by her loving family.

Services will be held at 1:00on Tuesday June 23, 2026 at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Milan, Illinois. Visitation to be held 3:00 to 6:00pm on Monday at Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home and Crematory, Milan. Burial will be in the Sherrard Cemetery, Sherrard, Illinois. Memorials may be made to St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Milan.

Carole was born on September 7, 1935, at St. Anthony’s Hospital, Rock Island, Illinois as the beloved second daughter of Oliver William and Loretta Evelyn (Iverson) Gordon. Carole grew up in a small house built by her father along the Rock River east of Black Hawk State Historic Site. Carole graduated from the Rock Island High School with the class of 1935, where she was active in many clubs. She went on to take classes in business school. Her first job was in the offices of the Servus Rubber Company where she met the love of her life. On October 18, 1958, she married David Frederick Appelquist, son of Edgar Richard Appelquist and Irene Elenora Johnson, at Memorial Christian Church, Rock Island. They then moved to Coyne Center. They celebrated 67 years together in 2025. Dave was faithfully by her side every day for the ten months Carole spent at Silvis Center. Carole and Dave raised four daughters and one grandson.

Carole went on to work in the cafeterias for a couple of local school districts during her daughters’ early school years and spent fifteen years working in dietary for Friendship Manor in Rock Island, retiring in 1997.

Carole and Dave raised much of their food for most of their marriage. This included raising dairy goats, ducks, chickens, rabbits, and huge vegetable gardens. Many family summers involved snapping bushels of beans and canning tomatoes. A few hundred jars were put up each summer. Carole was an excellent cook and cherished her large cookbook collection. The vegetable gardens turned into huge daylily gardens in retirement and their property became a show garden for the Iowa Hemerocallis Society of which they were members. When her daughters were young, Carole was a Girl Scout Leader in Coyne Center. She was also a long-time member of the Quad City Archaeological Society, and the Citizens to Preserve Black Hawk Park Foundation. She was a member of St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Milan for about 60 years.

Carole was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Janice Evelyn Sample, and granddaughter Jessica Susan Black.

Those left to cherish Carole’s memory include her husband, twin daughters Patricia Ann (James) Pearson, Milan, IL, Elizabeth Ann Hall, Silvis, IL (Bob Johnson); daughters, Deborah Ann Black, East Moline, IL, and Julene Ann Waterman (Eric Prince), Rochester, MN; grandchildren, Matthew Hall, Timothy (Ali) Hall, William (Carrie) Appelquist, Frederick Waterman, Christopher Black, Christina Black; great-grandchildren, Brookelyn Appelquist, Elizabeth, Bryan, and Liberty McKee.