Carol Falkowski

Carol Falkowski

Departed this life on November 4, 2024 at The Pillars Hospice Home after a 2 year bout with stage 4 lung cancer at the age of 71.

She was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on December 31, 1952, the second daughter of Rohland H. Thomssen Jr. "Bud", and Geraldine Wiggins Thomssen.

She is survived by her loving husband, Peter Falkowski; children, Dana (Andrew) Bielski of Minneapolis, Minnesota and Mark (Brittany) Falkowski; grandchildren, Charlotte and Jack of St. Louis, Missouri. She is also survived by brother, James (Melissa) Thomssen of Nampa, Idaho and sister, Kathleen Thomssen; nephew, Taylor (Ann) Kerns and their sons, Benjamin and Owen; and niece, Whitney Kerns, and her daughter, Emma.

Professionally for over 30 years, she was part of a national drug abuse epidemiology workgroup and wrote in that capacity over 60 quantitative reports on current and emerging drug abuse trends in the Twin Cities. She was author of a reference book, Dangerous Drugs, and traveled extensively, speaking on the topic to professional and community audiences. A graduate of the U of M, Carol was at one point known as Minnesota's unofficial "drug czar" and was frequently sought out for media interviews.

Since 1981, she split her time between the lake cabin in Wisconsin and the Twin Cities. She thought having children was her greatest accomplishment. She was fun loving, upbeat, endlessly creative, and happiest when surrounded by family canoeing or simply floating down a river.

Celebration of Carol's life will be held at 11:00am Saturday, November 16th (with visitation one hour prior and a luncheon to follow) at Bradshaw Celebration of Life Center, 4600 Greenhaven Drive, White Bear Lake.