Carol Elaine Trott's Page

Family Photos (no, you don't have to look...)

An attempt at artistic photo arrangement by my husband
A silly trio of pix from my cancer era (more on that below)
Beauty and the Beast [one] - [two]
Tall Guy, Short Lady
My father holding the itty-bitty me
My high school graduation picture
Early 70s Jesus movement me [one] - [two]
NEW Spring 2002 at Bushnell (he got loose with a cheap digital camera...) pix:
[Iris] - [Woodpecker] - [Trailer] - [Tatman] - [BlueTat] - [YardBabe!]

Goopy Poetry my husband wrote for me:

Trees and Roots and Growing Things
Sun and Bible (a short prose and poetry thing)
Purity and Pomegranates (Song of Solomon stuff, this one's embarrassing)
This Nail, This Blood, This Wood: Poems about Cancer and other Troubles

My Story (The short version)

Soon after meeting Jesus Christ in February 1971, Carol Elaine Durkin Trott met some "Jesus Freaks" at a Chicago Billy Graham crusade. Carol, who was working for American Airlines at the time, decided to join these "Jesus People Milwaukee," the predecessor to Jesus People USA. She accompanied JP Milwaukee founder Jim Polossari and some dozen others overseas, where they toured Europe with their rock opera, "Lonesome Stone." She married in 1973, and after returning to the United States, settled in the Detroit area.

In 1980, she had an emergency Cesarian section to rescue her twin boys, Christopher and Trevor Wiitala. Their births were nearly three months premature, and the fact they survived was remarkable. "Maybe I was just naive," she remembers, "but I had this deep trust that they were going to be just fine."

In 1986, Carol's husband asked to end the marriage. Not long after, Carol moved with her boys to Chicago and joined Jesus People USA.

In 1988, Carol became engaged to Jon Trott, who had two girls, Tamzen and Tabitha, of his own. Carol and Jon married September 2, 1989. (Sorry, no wedding pix scanned yet!)

In 1999, Carol was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and had her thyroid removed. Only months later, however, she was also found to have an unrelated breast cancer, which led to a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and ongoing use of the anti-cancer drug tamoxifen. To see some very silly chemo-era pictures of Carol and her husband, click here. Her husband has written some poetry and prose about that time.

Carol currently works full-time with Jesus People USA's Leland House Project, a second-stage housing program for previously homeless women with children. This is often sad work, as the women who come to Leland often struggle with drugs and dysfunctional relationships. Yet her friendships with the Leland women do at times seem powerfully used by God so that even she gets to see the fruit. For others, she knows their story doesn't end with Leland, and that God's grace is hard even for the most resistant heart to ignore. She, along with her husband, also serve part-time -- a one night overnight stay as "staff" every one to two weeks -- at JPUSA's CCO Sylvia Center for intact homeless families.

Carol's interests are wide. She loves music, especially worship-oriented music and classical music. She is also, according to her husband, "The Project Queen." She continually keeps her hands moving, creating (among other things) homemade cards and bookmarks, articles of clothing, "stamped" and embossed paper, and more. One of her favorite haunts is the Art Institute of Chicago.

Carol's best place to be, however, is the JPUSA site for Cornerstone Festival, near Bushnell, Illinois. The rest of the year, it serves as a camp / retreat for JPUSAns, and Carol loves the old trailer she and her husband have there. She sits on the deck (lumber ripped from a discarded skateboard ramp and reused by her husband) and watches the finches, blue jays, woodpeckers, wrens and more flutter around her bird feeders. She only gets to go a few weekends a year, but as Carol says, "The trees, the birds, nature itself, brings me so close to God. I love it!"

Carol and her husband massively enjoy one another's company. Like all couples, they fuss with each other once in a while. But in short, they are each others' best friends. Though he imagines himself an "egalitarian," and sometimes even tells Carol she is going to get him a reputation as a traditionalist due to her love of roles perceived as "traditional," her response is simple: "I like being and doing this. I'm called to serve in the work I do, both at Leland House and here at home. My husband is called as well; we are a team." Then she laughs. "Well, most of the time. Sometimes I think he thinks he's more into mutual submission than he is in reality!"

Carol's ultimate love, Jesus Christ, has always informed her words and her life. And though she is well aware of her weakness and need and even sinfulness, she lives as a child of grace. Her name -- Carol -- sums her up well. It means, literally, "Song of Joy."

If you'd like, email me. I'm happy to talk about working at a second-stage shelter, living in an intentional community (JPUSA), history of the Jesus movement (I was there), Christian marriage (hear me at CBE's 2002 Conference), or my favorite topic, Jesus Christ.