CARR, Carol Ann (nee Martin)
Carol was born in 1930 and grew up in the small agricultural town of Huntingdon, in southwestern Quebec. She attended Macdonald College of McGill University, where she studied Home Economics, specializing in Dietetics. She worked for a few years as a dietician before marrying Joe Carr in 1953. Joe took a job at A.E.C.L, a.k.a “the Plant”, in 1960 and the family, including three young children, left small town Quebec to join the Atomic Age in Deep River, Ontario.
Carol quickly immersed herself in all the activities and clubs available to the women who didn’t have much choice but to work at home, tending to their baby-boomer progeny. Both she and Joe loved the town, the friendships and lifestyle it provided.
Having come from a family of avid curlers, Carol quickly distinguished herself up and down the Ottawa Valley, along with teammates Doreen Joyce, Dorothy Ross, and Betty Alexander. None of them thought twice about driving through blizzards in January to North Bay to clinch yet another trophy. Her family later joked that practically everything in the house was won as a curling prize.
Carol’s seemingly boundless energy and competitive spirit was soon applied in many other clubs and activities offered in Deep River, including downhill and cross-country skiing, golf, bridge and aquafit. In later years she replaced curling with lawn bowling, and golf with unspoiled walks. She continued cross-country skiing into her eighties.
Carol was a woman with community spirit. In her downtime, she was an avid reader, and for decades was a volunteer and supporter of the Deep River public library. She also organized a book club. In their early retirement years Carol and Joe volunteered with Meals on Wheels.
Carol relaunched her dietician career in the 1980s and immensely enjoyed her work at the Pembroke Civic Hospital. She and Joe also enjoyed vacation trips to almost every continent and met many new friends while cruising with Holland America. After Joe’s death, Carol continued to live independently, living her best life while managing several chronic health conditions, downsizing, moving twice, and accepting more help as needed.
Carol died on November 20, 2023, in her ninety-third year, at the Riverview Retirement Residence in Pembroke. She leaves her children Michael, Marilyn (Harold Toiviainen), Stephen (Kimberley Williams), her sister Marilyn O’Regan, her cousin Jim Robb, several nephews and nieces, and many old friends in the Deep River area.
Interment of ashes and a celebration of life will take place at a later date.
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