Carol Lamb

Carol Ann Eastman Lamb

October 12, 1935 – November 30, 2025

Carol Ann Lamb, a woman whose smile and delicious sense of humor could light up the room, died of heart failure November 30 at home, in Rock Springs, surrounded by family. She was 90 years old.

Carol was born in Evanston, WY in the depths of the Depression to Arnold Walton (A.W.) and Anna Laura Cluff Eastman. A.W. was working three jobs to support the little family; when Carol was born at home, the doctor who delivered her said she was the first baby in Evanston who was paid for in cash and gave A.W. back $15 of his $50. Brothers Brent and Dale Eastman followed in 1940 and 1948 - both adored all their lives by their older sister. Eventually the family prospered as A.W. Eastman became a locomotive engineer for the Union Pacific Railroad.

Carol attended local schools, graduating June 1953 from Evanston High School. After high school, she took service jobs –working as a nurse’s aide at the local State Hospital in Evanston, and then, for more adventure, 1000 miles east at a hospital in Osawatomie, Kansas. Everywhere she went, she made friends.

At age 22, Carol met the love of her life, Ralph Lee Lamb of Robertson. Ralph was a saddle bronc rider who kept his horse in the same stables where A.W. Eastman kept his. One day Carol went up to the stables to meet her dad, took one look at Ralph Lamb and “just loved him.” Ralph, in his turn, fell head over heels. Carol and Ralph married November 19, 1958, and soon Ralph became the “best father in the world” to their daughter Kathi and son Bill – and later the best grandfather and great-grandfather in a marriage lasting 64 years.

For the next decade the little family moved for work in Evanston, Lyman, Robertson and Mountain View until they arrived in Rock Springs in 1968 where Ralph took over his own service station and Carol worked in a bank. Rock Springs was home from then on as Kathi and Bill grew up, moved away with families of their own – and then teenage grandsons BJ Cox and Dillon Cox came to live with their grandparents on and off in a whole new phase of child-rearing and loving until the boys themselves finished school.

Devotion to the extended family took Carol and Ralph to San Diego, CA after A.W. died there in 1986; they lived with Anna Laura for a time and then stayed four years to manage an apartment complex there. Similarly in 1990, a call from brother Dale asking for help managing his big spread in Utah took them to Jeremy Ranch; until they finally returned for good to Rock Springs in 1991.

Carol was smart, strong, loving and also very funny, with a collection of jokes and skits - including “The Red Cross Nurse” - to brighten any occasion. She endured nearly unbearable tragedy in the early deaths of her brother Dale and son Bill, and then finally the loss of Ralph in 2022; but she gave herself to her loved ones to the end of her days.

Carol is survived by her brother Dr. Brent Eastman (Sarita) of Rancho Santa Fe, CA; daughter Kathi Fine and grandsons BJ Cox (Beverly) and Dillon Cox, all of Rock Springs; niece Kim Deimling (Phil) of Park City, UT; nephew Matt Eastman (Michelle) of Kamas, UT; nephews Roan Eastman (Keverin Burns) and Ian Eastman (Beth) of Jackson Hole; niece Alexandra Eastman (Zane Aukee) of Jackson Hole; five great-grandchildren: AJ Muller and Daylin Cox of St. George, UT; Ian Cox of Rock Springs; Calie Wilson (Drew) and Lyndsey Cox of Rock Springs; four great-great grandchildren, and a host of great-nieces and great-nephews.