Carol Julia Minugh, born November 6, 1934, at the Fort Belknap Agency Hospital in Harlem, Montana, passed peacefully into the presence of her Lord on the morning of June 22, 2024, at her residence in Olympia.

Carol was a member of the Gros Ventre Indian Tribe on the Fort Belknap Reservation. She was one of 10 children born to Alfred McKinley and Mary Cecelia (O’Bryan) Minugh.

She completed the last two years of high school in Hoquiam, Washington, then married Raymond James Hart, also of Hoquiam. While raising four children, she worked at Acmedore Manufacturing, the Tip Top and Oriole Cafes, and Fred Potts Real Estate.

She continued her education at Grays Harbor College in 1971, attended WSU, University of Arizona, and completed Her PhD in Education at Penn State in 1983.

As Professor of Native American Studies at The Evergreen State College, she founded the Gateways for Incarcerated Youth Program, and the Reservation Based Community Determined Program (now called Native Pathways). People knew her as loving, giving, determined and challenging in her efforts to care for marginalized people.

Preceded in death by six siblings, Carol is survived by three sisters: Donna Sitton of Billings, Montana; Florence Wells of Hoquiam, Washington, and Ceil Grieser of Frazee, Minnesota; and by her four children: Randy Hart of Olympia; Ramona Butorac of Spanaway, Washington; Russell Hart of Westfield, Indiana; and Rae-Diane Fish of Springfield, Oregon.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, August 10, 2024, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., at The Evergreen State College Longhouse, 2800 Dogtooth Lane NW, Olympia, WA 98505.

Donations in honor of Carol may be made through The Evergreen State College’s “Carol Minugh Gateways Scholarship” at https://www.evergreen.edu/give/minugh

Read the full obituary or leave memories through Funeral Alternatives of Washington at www.Afterall.com.