Louise Carolyn Ostin Alter, 83

Louise Carolyn Ostin Alter, 83, passed away March 26, 2005, in Salt Lake City.

Born Louise Carolyn Ostin, Nov. 21, 1921, in Los Angeles, Carolyn Alter was raised in the heart of Los Angeles and graduated from L.A. High School. She attended the University of Southern California as well as Stanford and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley.

She married Howard T. Ryan in 1943, and had four children, Patti, Tom, Ramon and Larry. As a devoted mother she spent the majority of her time raising and chauffeuring her children in Los Angeles.

She was an active supporter and contributor to the National Charity League and the Los Angeles Philanthropic Society. In 1962, she became an avid sailor and a member of the California Yacht Club where she rose to the challenge of becoming the senior executive officer of the Women's Auxiliary in 1979.

In 1981 she concluded her career as homemaker and declared the rearing of her children a success and at the age of 60 took up the sports of skiing, scuba diving and long range cruising. In the following years she built a '54 ketch, Teravanna, and spent her summers sailing with her high school sweetheart soon to be husband, Allan Alter, between the San Juan Islands in Washington state and Anchorage, Alaska.

Due to her love and knowledge of sailing and competitions in 1984, she was selected as a judge for the wind surfing events for the Olympics in Los Angeles.

In 1985, she built her first of three houses in Park City, Utah, where she loved the skiing almost as much as she loved the pace and sense of community that she found here. She became a lifetime supporter of the Egyptian Theater and served on the board as treasurer of the Park City Community Church during the time of its ground breaking and construction at its present location on Highway 224.

Her wanderlust caused her to purchase a house on Flathead Lake in Montana with Allan where they spent their summers sailing their Cal 22.

During the last 23 years of her life, when not sailing or skiing she was usually traveling around the world with Allan via their favorite mode of world travel, freighters.

In 1999, she moved to Orcas Island, Wash., where she lived until Allan's death in 2003. She then moved across the country to Pensacola, Fla., until driven out by hurricanes last year. She then returned to Park City.

Carolyn is survived by her four children, Patti and Chuck Saccio of Park City, Utah, Tom and Susan Miller of Malibu, Calif., Dr. Ramon and Carolyn Ryan of Milton, Fla., and Larry Ryan of Brentwood, Calif.; her grandchildren, Traci and Dennis Smith of Park City, Poett and Rodolfo Ryan of Carboni, Costa Rica, Christopher and Francesca Soberon of Park City, and Morgan Ryan, Elijah Worley Soberon and Dylan Soberon.

Funeral services will be held 2 p.m. at the Park City Community Church on Saturday, April 2, with interment to follow at the Park City Cemetery.

Arrangements in care of Olpin-Hoopes Funeral Home.