A memoriam

In 2019, when presented the Eastern Kentucky Leadership Award for a Public Individual, Carolyn Sundy said: “ If you were to ask me what I want to be remembered for, it would be for leadership.” Dr. Carolyn Sundy served nearly two decades on the East Kentucky Leadership Foundation. As Emily Sargent wrote in the Harlan Enterprise, “ A Harlan native, Sundy made it her life’s mission to make Harlan County, and southeastern Kentucky as a whole, a better place.”She was elected to the EKLF Board as the Foundation worked to improve its diversity, and she came to exemplify what it meant to be a true Leader. When Carolyn was given a job or task, she took it on with no reservations, but she never attempted to do a job by herself. She had a gift for getting others involved to help her. Harlan County magistrate Paul Browning quoted Carolyn as saying “ I know I can’t do this by myself, that’s why you’re here. We can do it together.” Browning went on to note, “Whether it was the truth or not, you didn’t care, you just want to help her achieve whatever she was working on.” Carolyn never took credit when she could share it with others. Whatever she did, she did it with unfailing good humor, always having a funny remark or story to make the task seem easier. Carolyn overcame many barriers along her way. A coal miner’s daughter, neither her father nor mother finished highschool. She had her first son,Terry, as a teenager, but still finished highschool and became first in her family to attend college. She graduated from the University of Kentucky with a BS in Allied Health Education and went on to secure a Masters in Higher Education Administrationand a PhD in Community College Leadership from Mississippi State University - but credentials weren’t important to Carolyn ; people were.
In 2013 the Eastern Kentucky Leadership Foundation selected Bell county to host its Annual Conference and asked Carolyn to be the Conference Chair. The result was perhaps the most successful conference in EKLF’s history up to that time. The organization of the conference was impeccable. The quality of the publications was unparalleled .The attendance was terrific and Carolyn gave credit to everyone ,but herself. Then in 2019 the 32nd Annual Leadership. Conference was in Harlan County and Carolyn served for a second time as Conference Chair. The Conference equaled the success of the Bell County Annual Conference ; Carolyn joked that she had come to Southeast Community College when trees were being planted and had stayed so long those trees were toppling over.We on the East Kentucky Leadership Board will sorely miss Carolyn’s leadership example, but we will miss even more her friendship, her graciousness, her good humor and her positive, loving spirit. Godspeed Carolyn.