Carroll Lee LaGraffe was born on January 20, 1958, in Peoria, Illinois. Affectionately known as ‘Carroll’, she spent the first 2 years of her life in Lincoln, Illinois. Once her family moved to Fremont, California, she attended Maloney Elementary, Centerville Junior High, and graduated from Washington High school in 1976.

Carroll continued her education at Ohlone College in Fremont, California, and earned her business degree at Las Positas College in Livermore, California, and her Paralegal Degree in 2010 from Blackstone Career Institute in Washington. She utilized her education as a Paralegal/Lease Administrator at The Save Mart Companies, and as the regional Paralegal and Notary of Lehigh Hanson, a Heidelberg Company. Carroll was a hard worker, a resilient figure in the face of adversity, and a person who provided exemplary effort.

Carroll’s love of life didn’t come to an end with her passing. We will remember her while listening to music and going to concerts, especially Country, Motown, and songs spanning the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. We will honor her during vacations, remembering how Carroll often explored the local sites and captured every memory in her photographs. We will celebrate the beauty in the changing fall colors, one of her favorite past times. We will delight in her creative artistry, as she was quite the seamstress, and fondly recall the many Halloween costumes she sewed for her niece Alyssa.

Carroll was a devoted and loyal partner. She met her forever love, Mark, at the tender age of 16 while attending high school and serving as captain of the water polo team. They dated for a year before Mark left for college, and reconnected 32 years later.

The early days of their rekindled courtship were spent the same as their first, talking for hours on the phone and sending countless letters through email to re-learn about one another. Neither one had forgotten the love they had for each other and naturally picked up where they left off. Together, they enjoyed traveling to sunny Arizona to attend spring training, to the Midwest to visit family in Chicago, and countless road trips throughout California and Oregon.

Selflessness and generosity were two traits that highlighted her personality. She loved her siblings, nieces, and nephews, both tremendously and without abandon. She embraced Mark’s family as her own, regularly telling everyone how deeply she loved and valued them. She was also the rock of her family and their strongest advocate. Even the people she grew to know during her time as a volunteer at the Manteca Historical Society and the countless rescue cats and kittens she became a Cat Mom to, were part of the limitless family she cultivated in her heart.

To know Carroll is to have laughed with or to have shared a kind word. Carroll's brilliant smile could put anyone at ease, everyone was Carroll’s friend. And when there wasn't a smile on her own face it was always on someone else's, put there by Carroll's second-to-none sense of humor. Her pleasant personality and empathetic heart will forever be remembered by all the many people and lives she touched in such a short amount of time.

Even while ill – she could find the silver lining to keep pushing forward in every situation. Carroll was so special, she embodied the good that we all need every day in our lives. She was one of a select few who could rise to meet challenges with grace.

Carroll passed away on March 13, 2022, at the age of 64 after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer, surrounded by loved ones who will continue to honor her legacy and memory by living their lives to the fullest.

Carroll is survived by her life partner, Mark Binkley; her twin brother, Steve LaGraffe; her sister, Donna LaGraffe; her mother-in-law, Mary Binkley; many cousins, nieces, nephews, and countless friends and lives that Carroll touched throughout her life.

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