Carol Ann Schlagheck

Carol Ann Schlagheck, 68, of La Salle Township died early Thursday morning at her home, from metastatic breast cancer. She had been diagnosed in 2015.

A visitation will be held on Wednesday, September 9, from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Capaul Funeral Home, 8216 Ida West Rd., Ida.

Born Dec. 16, 1957, in Toledo, Ohio, Carol was the daughter of Gerald and Mary Yvonne (Ludlow) Schlagheck. She married Charles T. Slat on Jan. 16, 1981, in Taylor.

Carol graduated from Bedford Senior High School in 1976. A first-generation college student, she earned a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Toledo in 1982, a master’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University in 1992, and a Ph.D. in mass communication from Bowling Green State University in 1997.

Carol was the editor of her high school newspaper, The Goalpost, and co-founded a community weekly, The Bedford Journal, in 1976. From 1978 to 1989 she was a reporter and copy editor for The Monroe Evening News, where she met her husband, a fellow journalist. She also did freelance writing and editing for several regional and national publications.

From 1994 to 2021, Carol was a professor of journalism at Eastern Michigan University, chairing the Student Media Board and adapting her department to the rise of online media. Many of her former students are nationally recognized reporters and editors.

Carol also used her investigative reporting skills on the unprosecuted 1972 abductions and murders of her grandfather, Earl Ludlow of Temperance, and two other victims, resulting in a life sentence for the perpetrator in 2014.

Carol enjoyed gardening, antiquing, and being in nature. She supported 4-H and for several years kept a small hobby farm with goats, chickens, and a horse. Toward the end of her life, Carol served on the Board of Trustees of Meadow Montessori School in Monroe.

Survivors include three children, Christopher Slat of Ypsilanti, Stephanie Slat of La Salle, and Nicholas Slat of La Salle; a brother, John (Jana) Schlagheck of Atlanta, Michigan; four sisters, Marie (Victor) Valenzuela of Chantilly, Va.; Susan (Mike) Jones of Temperance; Kathleen (Tom) Beach Wirick of Ida, and Kristine (Mark) Nowicki of Temperance; numerous nieces and nephews; and the family’s golden retriever, Ella. She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles; mother, Yvonne; and grandmother, Dolores Ludlow.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to ​the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse Society, Camp Kesem at the University of Michigan, or to the Eastern Michigan University Foundation with a note for the Charles Slat and Carol Schlagheck Journalism Endowed Scholarship.

https://www.toledolighthouse.org/donate.html

https://donate.kesem.org/fundraiser/7494033

https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/66852/donations/new?designation_id=02464as