If you look close enough, you can still see a glimmer of rock and roll in Carol Rowland’s eyes.

With her nurturing demeanor and motherly disposition, it’s difficult to put “Carol” and “rock and roll” in the same sentence, but indeed she had a life before discovering Downey.

She was born in Detroit -- she won’t say when and we won’t ask -- and moved to California in 1974, taking a job with Capitol Records, the giant record label responsible for launching the careers of The Beatles, Neil Diamond, the Beach Boys, and other hall of famers.

Carol and her husband settled here in 1978, although admittedly they knew nothing about Downey. Their decision to move here was based solely on geography.

“How I discovered Downey is I worked in Glendale and my husband worked in Huntington Beach and we lived in North Hollywood,” Carol said. “So we opened up a map and said, ‘We need to be able to live in between,’ and we looked and there’s Downey.

“I don’t know how many weekends we drove down here. I knew nothing about Downey, just that it was in between both of our jobs. I never left.”

Carol worked for Capitol Records for 10 years, handling marketing and promotions for the West Coast, but her desire for a stable family life forced her to reconsider a career in entertainment.

“I just started to have kids and when you work in the record industry, if you have acts in town, you work from morning to night,” Carol said. “When you have kids it really changes your focus.”

Her oldest daughter started school at Ward Elementary and thus began Carol’s prolific career in public service. She began volunteering as a popcorn salesperson under Bobbi Samperi, who was president of the PTA at the time and later went on to become a school board member.

“And within a short amount of time, I went from popcorn sales to PTA,” said Carol. “And that’s really how I became involved in Downey.

“And then I started to discover how great Downey was. The schools — my kids went to Downey schools at probably the best time ever. They’re still good but I really credit their love of education and where they are today because they had great teachers.”

After her daughter was promoted from Ward to South Middle School, Carol noticed something she had never seen before in her south Downey neighborhood: gang members loitering outside the corner liquor store. In broad daylight.

“You’re a creature of habit; prior to that I would walk to Ward, pick her up, go to Golden Park...you stay in a routine,” Carol said. “Now I’m starting to drive down and see gang members. I about had heart failure.

“I talked to Linda Kennedy, who was my daughter’s principal at the time. Linda says, ‘You know, they’re just starting to develop a program. It’s called Gangs Out of Downey. I would suggest that you go there.’

“So I went but I didn’t go by myself — I brought all my neighbors. I got them all wound up and we went to the meeting.”

**Carol Rowland at a Keep Downey Beautiful clean-up in 2015. Photo by John Zander**

GOOD was still in its infancy stages, having been created by Downey educators and civic leaders in response to the growing gang epidemic of the early 1990s.

“So I go, and I don’t know these people, and thank God I didn’t know who they really were because I probably wouldn’t have been so brave. But we just shared how frightened we were. Clayton Mays was the police chief at the time and we made such a big stink that he invited us to the council chambers to talk to us about our end of the city and what they were doing.

“Phil Presicci after that meeting walked me out to my car and he said to me, and I’ll never forget this, ‘It’s easy to come and complain, but you need to get involved.’ He really called me on the carpet. And you know, I attended almost every meeting since then.”

Carol went on to serve every board position in GOOD, including two stints as president.

In 1994, at the urging of Councilwoman Joyce Lawrence, the city set out to hire a part-time coordinator to run Keep Downey Beautiful. By then Carol had established trust among the community and, despite a background that was more rock and roll than civic affairs, she was hired for the position. She worked 20 hours per week and her office was located at Stonewood Center.

Carol’s role has expanded over the years and she became a valuable utility person for public works. She’s also been instrumental in Downey’s recycling programs.

But her most visible position remains as Keep Downey Beautiful coordinator, helping coordinate monthly clean-ups around the city that attract upwards of 100 volunteers.

When she rides in Sunday’s Downey Christmas Parade as a grand marshal, she will be at an unusual vantage point. Usually, she’s at the tail end of the parade, behind Santa Claus, leading volunteers in picking up trash along the parade route.

“I don’t think in my whole life I have had a recognition that has touched me more than this,” Carol said. “Downey is really in my heart. I don’t think there’s a community quite like it.”

How Carol Rowland went from rock 'n roll to Keep Downey Beautiful