Carol Fitch was born on March 7, 1967, in Oxford, Mississippi. She is the second youngest of five children, with a younger brother and three older sisters. Their mother, Jackie Fitch, worked part-time as a bookkeeper for a local construction company. Their father, Benjamin Fitch, was a math teacher at Oxford High School.
Growing up in the Fitch household, there was no shortage of food, though her parents' attention was often divided among her siblings. With a lack of discipline and expectations, mediocrity became Carol’s standard throughout school. A passing interest in journalism prompted her to apply to the University of Mississippi, which she attended in 1986.
After one year at university, however, Carol was forced to drop out due to financial troubles. She kept her student job as an administrative assistant in the English Department and gradually accrued more hours until her promotion to full-time in 1990.
Since then, Carol has remained at Ole Miss. In 1994, she received another promotion to become Secretary. Nine years later, she was named Senior Secretary upon the retirement of her predecessor.
Having slowly and steadily worked her way up the ranks in the English Department, Carol’s dedication to her work is unwavering. It was one of the few things she was good at, which encouraged her to strive for improvement. During her time as Senior Secretary, Carol has been instrumental in the expansion and addition of new programs to her department with a knack for securing funding.
Carol’s workaholic nature left little time for her personal life, as evidenced by her lack of children and only a handful of casual relationships over the years. Friends and co-workers describe Carol as modest, helpful, and highly competent at her job. The head of the English Department says that “Carol’s service has been an invaluable asset to this university.”
Over the last several months, Carol has been collaborating with English Department faculty members to organize events for the 2017 Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference. Her efforts in the planning committee, however, faced a persistent roadblock named Douglas Reed. The arrogant young post-doc consistently undermined and rejected every one of Carol’s decisions until he was found dead on the morning of July 10, 2017.
