Carolyn Sue Leighton, age 85 of Haslett, MI passed away on October 13, 2023. Carolyn (Kay) was born August 21, 1938, in Cleveland, OH to Martha Sarah (Rodeheffer) Dawson and Norman Karl Dawson and grew up in South Euclid, graduating from Charles F. Brush High School in 1956. She attended Muskingum University and graduated from Miami University of Ohio with a B.A. in Elementary Education in 1960. She obtained a M.A. in Education from Indiana University in 1965. She married Neil O. Leighton, August 20, 1960Kay went on to teach elementary school in Cleveland, and Indiana, a Secondary School in Kenema Sierra Leone, and Mott Adult High in Flint, MI. She also worked at the Flint Open Nursery. She was a very accomplished watercolor artist having attended workshops and classes in Flint, Lansing, Petoskey and Canada. She exhibited her art in Flint, Owosso, Petoskey, and the Lansing area. She was inspired by her extensive traveling and living overseas including West Africa, Lebanon, the U.K., Holland, Germany, Cape town, South Africa, Japan, Australia and several trips to Korea. She also sailed around the world on Semester at Sea in 1987. She is survived by her husband Neil, their two sons and families; son Ian K. and Eugin Leighton and grandchildren Kathleen and Connor Leighton; son Jeffrey N. and Shauna Leighton and her brother Richard Dawson, her nieces and cousins. She was a very intelligent, adventurous, creative, caring and an incredibly loving person. We will miss her every day for the rest of our lives.