Caroline M. Flynn; Blue-Ribbon Baker

Ventura resident Caroline Mary Flynn, a skilled baker who won blue ribbons at the Ventura County Fair for her pies, died last week following a lengthy illness. She was 80.

Flynn was born in Santa Monica, one of five brothers and sisters who shared what she often said was an ideal childhood. She married her husband, Chap, in 1941, and she concentrated on raising their four children.

Friends and family members remember Flynn as a loving woman with a gift for making people feel welcome. She also had a gift for baking, winning a series of blue ribbons, including one for her apple pie when she was 78.

“She loved baking and was very good at it,” said her son, Don Flynn of Simi Valley. “We prompted her to enter them in the Ventura County Fair and when she finally did, she won a blue ribbon. I think the secret was in the crust.”

In addition to her son, Flynn is survived by sons John of Camarillo and Jim of West Hills; a daughter, Kathy Thompson of Bodega Bay; two sisters, Adelaide Howley of Malibu and Pauline Walk of Vista, and four grandchildren.

Arrangements are under the direction of Ted Mayr Funeral Home, Ventura.