Cari Wolfe, 67, passed away quietly on May 16, 2025 under the loving touch and watchful eye of home hospice care, thus ending her courageous 10-year stand against sarcoma cancer. Cari and her family owe a debt of love and gratitude to Elaine and Deanna, Cari’s hospice aid and nurse respectively, for their incomparable care and for bringing a spark of joy to the final leg of Cari’s journey.

Cari Fay Weinberg was born on July 12, 1957 in Marietta, OH. This location would seem a bit unusual since her mother, Nancy (Hodge) Weinberg, lived in Bridgewater, NJ and her father, Julian “Jerry” Weinberg, hailed from The Bronx in New York City. However, Cari was the first of Jerry and Nancy’s five children, and she arrived as her parents were finishing their undergraduate degrees at Marietta College. Cari’s formative years were spent primarily at her family’s dairy farm, Jer-Nan Farm, in Bridgewater where her chores included helping Grandpa Hodge, her parents and her four siblings bale hay, milk the cows, care for the calves and tend the family garden. Cari vividly recounted taking a trip with her family as a youngster in the mid-1960s to a dairy auction in Lebanon, PA where they purchased their first two registered Jerseys. These cows would serve as the foundation for the Weinberg family’s modest Jersey herd and would be instrumental in launching Cari’s love affair with the Jersey cow that would impact the rest of her life. In school Cari was a model student bringing home mostly As on her report cards. She also played piano, flute, piccolo and occasionally cymbals in her high school marching band. Cari’s parents recall, “Her ability to give public presentations became apparent to us when, at the age of eight, she spoke and demonstrated to over 100 members of the NJ Black Angus Association on the various methods of processing Jersey milk into butter.” Several years later, Cari would be selected to deliver the student address at both her middle school and her high school graduation commencements. Her excellent academic record would eventually earn her a summer internship at the Merck Pharmaceutical Farm in Branchburg, NJ. Both of Cari’s parents were public school teachers, as well as, leaders of the local Somerset County 4-H Club. Consequently, the entire family was very active in 4-H. Cari and her siblings would show their Jerseys at the Somerset and Flemington County Fairs and at the New Jersey State Fair in Branchville. Cari would also become a member of the Somerset County Dairy Judging Team, and in 1975 she was designated to represent Somerset County 4-H at the National 4-H Congress in Chicago. To add icing to the cake, that same year she was chosen to be the New Jersey State Dairy Princess.

After graduating from Bridgewater-Raritan High School West in June 1975, Cari headed to Blacksburg, VA to enroll in the Dairy Science curriculum at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, or just Virginia Tech as the kids called it. There she was active with the Alpha Gamma Rho little sisters, she participated in the American Dairy Science Association (ADSA), and she was a member of the university’s 1978 Dairy Judging Team. But just as important, at Blacksburg Cari had the opportunity to meet many other like-minded dairy cattle enthusiasts, and she made many friendships that have endured to this day. She spoke often of the road trips with her classmates to the annual ADSA meetings. Two of her closest friends remember “1977 ADSA meeting at Iowa State, Cari had second place paper ‘Type in a Breeding Program’. In 1979 at Utah State, she won the paper contest with her ‘Production’ paper, and she was named Outstanding Dairy Science Student in the nation”. Cari graduated cum laude from Virginia Tech in June 1979, but her inquisitive nature left her wanting more. So she moved on to Raleigh, NC to study Dairy Cattle Genetics at North Carolina State University. At NC State Cari was mentored by several of the most respected dairy cattle geneticists in academia, and she spent the next 3 years immersing herself in inheritance, genes, chromosomes, DNA, and fun stuff like that, completing her Master of Science Degree in May 1982.

While finishing her studies at NC State, Cari began scouting potential career opportunities in the dairy industry. While doing so, she caught the eye of the leadership at the American Jersey Cattle Association and National All Jersey, Inc (aka the AJCA) in Columbus, OH. Shortly thereafter in January 1982, Cari broke new ground when she was hired by the AJCA to be their first female Area Representative. Since Cari would be serving the southeastern US states, she continued her southward migration and moved to South Carolina where she shared an apartment with one of her Virginia Tech cohorts. Cari’s new responsibilities included visiting dairy farms in her territory to promote purebred Jersey cattle and to teach dairy breeders how to utilize the AJCA programs. It was on one of those herd visits where she met and, shall we say, took a liking to Larry Wolfe, a mild-mannered midwestern cowpoke. Initially, Larry wasn’t sure what to make of this attractive and affable “east coast” girl. But Cari’s infectious charm soon won him over, and the two were wed in March 1983 at Cari’s home church, the historic North Branch Reformed Church. Several years later the ultimate expression of this union arrived with the birth of Rebecca Fay in September 1989. Much to Cari’s surprise, Rebecca triggered a maternal response that nobody had seen coming. Cari would gladly clear her schedule at every opportunity to help usher Rebecca through life beginning with preschool selection and vacation bible school, then soccer practice, swim team practice and meets, moving on to piano lessons, oboe lessons, youth orchestra rehearsals and concerts, summer band camps, voice lessons, youth choir rehearsals and concerts, leading to musical theater through high school and college including summer theater productions, culminating with the long and painful trip to New York where she would help Rebecca make the Big Apple her new home. Through all of this, Cari was Rebecca’s most ardent advocate and proudest supporter while, at the same time, giving her ample space to spread her own wings. Cari’s was a true mother’s love for which Rebecca has reciprocated many times over.

But I digress. Returning to Cari’s time at the AJCA, the opportunity arose for her to join the management team at the headquarters office in Columbus. So in January 1987 Cari and Larry serendipitously returned to Cari’s birth state. She would manage the AJCA’s cattle marketing arm for two years before assuming the position of Director of Research and Genetic Program Development. Her research responsibilities included partnering with universities and agricultural research entities to identify and help fund research projects that would benefit the Jersey breed. But it was the Jersey genetics portion of her new position wherein Cari realized her true calling. Utilizing her genetics training, she would collaborate with other dedicated and knowledgeable AJCA co-workers to plan, devise and implement numerous programs and tools designed to help Jersey breeders achieve the true potential of their herd’s genetics and maximize the value of their marketable breeding stock. Cari was in her element when she could sit down with Jersey breeders, both one-on-one and in larger groups, to teach them how to use these new tools. Cari’s work at the AJCA garnered her the admiration and respect of dairy industry leaders and fellow dairy geneticists, both domestically and internationally, as evidenced by invitations for her to serve on the advisory panels and committees of several allied dairy organizations. Cari’s positive impact on the evolution of the Jersey breed simply cannot be overstated. She retired from the AJCA in June 2022 after 40 years of dedicated and exemplary service, returning briefly the following June to accept the coveted Award for Meritorious Service presented to her by the AJCA Boards of Directors.

Cari also pursued several other interests outside of family and career. First and foremost, she was an avid gardener. Flowers were her passion both inside and outside of the house, but she enjoyed her vegetable garden as well. When she became frustrated with the Reynoldsburg clay “soil”, she joined two of her AJCA co-workers to tend a plot in the community garden. There they were able to experiment with new plant varieties and reap the rewards afforded by real topsoil and compost. To satisfy her musical appetite, Cari sang with the Scioto Valley Chorus, an all-female acapella chorus affiliated with Sweet Adelines International. There she enjoyed the close harmonies, the camaraderie of her fellow singers, and the competition of the chorus contests. Cari also enjoyed singing in an acapella quartet with three other wonderful ladies, and she sang with husband Larry in their church choirs. When Cari became an empty nester, she began looking for an outlet through which she could help people less fortunate. She soon found this with Altrusa International, an altruistic organization that focuses on community involvement. Cari was attracted to the Columbus chapter of Altrusa because of their programs to promote literacy among disadvantaged young women. Cari served on the chapter Board for several years and was an active participant in their fund-raising projects. In later years as Cari’s stamina and mobility waned, she was most of all disappointed that she could no longer attend the meetings and work with her friends at Altrusa.

Cari is survived by her aforementioned parents Jerry and Nancy, husband Larry, and daughter Rebecca Wolfe (Edwin Cruz); also her sister Amy Grald (Chris) and her brothers Jeff Weinberg (Beth, deceased), Ted Weinberg (Karin) and Chuck Weinberg (Lynne); as well as Larry’s sisters who considered Cari to be their true sister Carol Baron (Jim), Peggy Coggins, Susanne Knowles (Kai Buech), Kathy Bubash (Jim), Julie Baumgartner (Jerry) and Annette Hoggins (Antonio); and Larry’s brothers Randy Wolfe, Duane Wolfe, Stuart Wolfe, Jeff Wolfe (Sandy) and Ryan Wolfe (Candy); 12 nieces, 10 nephews, cousins galore, and grandnieces and grandnephews too numerous to fathom.

A memorial service to commemorate Cari’s life will be held Monday morning, June 23rd at Messiah Lutheran Church, 1200 S Waggoner Rd, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068. Visitation will begin at 10:00 and the service at 11:00 followed by a noon repast at the church.

Cari loved flowers. But at this time she has asked that, instead of flowers, you might consider a gift in her memory to one (or more) of her favorite charities. In doing so, you can leave a lasting legacy and give our children hope for a better world in the future:

American Cancer Society, https://www.cancer.org/donate/memorial-giving.html

Altrusa International, Columbus Chapter, https://www.altrusacolumbusoh.com/take-action

Caleb’s Prayer Foundation, https://calebsprayerfoundation.org/about

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, https://www.stjude.org/donate/donate-to-st-jude.html