Carla Kapitan Tucker was born in North Dakota in 1944, and grew up in Yankta, South Dakota. She found Indiana through pursuing higher education at Marian University in Indianapolis. She discovered Marion, Indiana through her husband, whom she fell in love with on a blind date. Marion was his lifelong home, and it soon became hers.
Upon moving to Marion in the 1960s, she made a point to get acquainted with the community through two organizations: Girl Scouts of America and Marion Civic Theatre. She dived into working with the local Girl Scouts program during a time when there were around 2,000 girl members as opposed to about 200 today. “Without the Scouts, there wasn’t much sports & recreation opportunity for girls back then,” explained Tucker who devoted over 50 years to the Girl Scouts, giving Grant County a voice when the program was later consolidated. She also became a shining star on and off the stage of Marion Civic Theatre, coordinating and accumulating a vast costume collection, the rental of which is a source of income for MCT, even utilized by surrounding counties. Tucker is known as the “Wardrobe Mistress” in the area, and is still active with them.
Tucker served with numerous other non-profits throughout the years. Among them, she was one of the charter members of Marion’s prestigious Community School of the Arts where she served on virtually every committee and even led the board. She also serves as an integral piece of the Marion-Grant County Chamber of Commerce, notably the 2013 ATHENA Award® Recipient, and 2014 Ambassador of the Year. She has been dutifully active with St. Paul Catholic Church outside of her employment with St. Paul Catholic Parish as the Music & Liturgy Coordinator. For 25 years, she watched over many elections as an inspector in her precinct.
In recounting all of her volunteer experiences, the common thread was that it has never seemed like work. Tucker’s philosophy is, “bloom where you’re planted.” She adds, “Go with your passion. You’ll have too much fun for it to seem like work.”
Tucker also recently received the September 2018 “Celebrating Grant County Seniors” Award from the Grant County Senior Center.