Carolyn Joan (Waal) Chase Tschetter, 83, of Oskaloosa, Iowa, passed away peacefully at home on August 24, 2026, surrounded by the music and flowers that had filled her life for over eight decades.
A gifted teacher, musician, and flower farmer, Carolyn spent her life nurturing everything she touched — her students, her family, her congregation, and the fields of blooms that became her second calling. She was born in Oskaloosa on March 19, 1943, the daughter of Harold and Faith (Rexroth) Waal. She grew up on a farm near Truax and attended Eddyville School from kindergarten through 8th grade before her family moved to Oskaloosa, where she finished her schooling at Oskaloosa High School. She went on to study at Olivet Nazarene College in Kankakee, Illinois, for two years before earning her B.A. from William Penn College, and later her Master’s Degree in Education from Drake University in 1988.
In 1963, she married Carlos J. Chase, and together they welcomed two children, Curt Chase and Christie (Chase) Fleming. Before her children were born, Carolyn taught school for two years at Lacey and two years in Oskaloosa at Grant Elementary. She then spent about 12 happy years as a “stay-at-home mom” before returning to the classroom in 1980, teaching 4th grade at Whittier School in Oskaloosa until her retirement in 2004 — 28 years in all spent shaping over 700 young minds. Her students remembered her fondly for her classroom motto: “firm, fair, and fun.”
Music was woven through Carolyn’s whole life. She began teaching piano at 18 and kept teaching students until she was 80. In her senior year of high school, she played string bass and was chosen for the All-State Orchestra. Over the years, she delighted her piano students and their families by organizing musicals and themed recitals, turning every milestone into a small celebration. She passed her love of music on to her own children — Curt on cello and Christie on harp —and together the three of them formed the CCC Trio. Their proudest moment came in 1987, when Vice President George Bush visited William Penn College and the trio was chosen to provide the entertainment. Carolyn also played organ for many years, serving the Nazarene Church for about 25 years and Central United Methodist Church for 31 years.
On August 17, 1991, Carolyn married Quinton Tschetter, and the two shared not only a deep love of music — serving together as musicians at Central United Methodist Church — but also a shared sense of adventure, traveling throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe as members of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers.
That same year, after watching her son graduate from Yale University, Carolyn came home to their 20-acre farm with an idea she brought back from the trip to Connecticut: a dried flower business of her own. In 1994, she and Quinton opened Harmonic Scents in a lovingly remodeled 1850s peg-and-beam barn, a project Quinton and his son took on together. The business blossomed for nearly 15 years before Carolyn and Quinton shifted to growing and selling fresh-cut flowers, eventually tending nearly 5 acres of flowers and woody plants. What started as local sales and subscriptions grew into a regular spot at the Des Moines Downtown Farmers Market, and Tschetter’s Flowers was featured twice in the Des Moines Register’s agriculture section — once as a promising young start-up, and later as a thriving female-owned farm. As word spread, so did demand, and at their peak Carolyn and Quinton supplied flowers to 25–30 florists across southeast Iowa. They stepped back from the commercial side of the business in 2019, after Quinton suffered a serious leg injury.
Through it all, Carolyn kept teaching piano out of her home studio and playing organ and piano for her church. She also helped turn the old Harmonic Scents store into a warm gathering place for family and friends, complete with bedrooms and a full kitchen — a space that has hosted countless family reunions, choir parties, and piano recitals over the years.
Carolyn was preceded in death by her parents, Harold and Faith (Rexroth) Waal, and by Quinton’s son, Eric Tschetter.
She is survived by her husband, Quinton; her son and daughter-in-law, Curt and Lisa Chase, and their two children, Greta and Eli; her daughter and son-in-law, Christie and Ryan Fleming, and their two children, Sydney and Olivia; Quinton’s son and daughter-in-law, Jeff and Rachel Tschetter; Quinton’s daughter, Susie Tschetter Zassavitski; four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren on Quinton’s side; her brother and sister-in-law, Bob and Jeanine Waal; and many cousins on her mother’s side.
Memorial services for Carolyn will be held at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, October 17th at Langkamp Funeral Chapel & Crematory. Burial will be held at University Park Cemetery. Visitation will begin after noon on Friday at Tschetter’s Red Barn; the family will greet visitors from 3-6 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in Carolyn’s memory to: Alzheimer’s Association, Iowa Chapter — donate at www.alz.org/donate; Good Samaritan Society Hospice (Ottumwa, Iowa) — donate at www.good-sam.com/foundation/ways-to-give
