Although her husband’s job meant frequently relocating, Lee Carroll always found a way to make life fun and comfortable for a family constantly on the move.
Once the boxes were unpacked, she’d act quickly to find a new church and make new friends. With her outgoing personality and skills as an artist, photographer and champion swimmer and diver, she organized activities for her children, their friends and families.
Her creativity and resourcefulness kept the family grounded and eased relocation anxiety.
“I thought she showed a lot of character and gumption to move to all these places and start over when Daddy was traveling a lot,” said her daughter Glenn Carroll Boatenreiter of Decatur. “On the one hand, it was hard. On the other, it was romantic because she made such a big deal when he came home.”
Carroll died March 30 at her son’s Roswell home. She was 87. Memorial services were held April 8 at Roswell United Methodist Church and at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Lookout Mountain, Tenn.
The Maplewood, N.J., native was born in 1928. In high school, she won state championships in 50-yard freestyle swimming and high-board diving. After she received her associate’s degree in art from Bradford College in Massachusetts, her father died suddenly from a stroke, and she moved back home to help her family.
While working as a secretary for Carroll and Associates, an engineering consulting firm, she caught the eye of her boss’ son, Phil Carroll VI, while he was home from college. They eloped in 1950.
After his graduation from the University of Michigan, the couple moved to New Jersey and then North Carolina. From there, the family began relocating for Phil’s consulting jobs as an efficiency expert, moving to Rome, Ga., Lookout Mountain, Reynolds, Ga., and then Roswell, where he retired.
Along the way, Carroll balanced jobs as a secretary in one city and freelance writer and a librarian in another while taking care of three children and volunteering in the community.
During the family’s time in Reynolds, a town of about 1,000 residents west of Warner Robins, Carroll worked as a freelance writer and photographer for the Macon Telegraph. She also volunteered to be the town librarian to keep the facility open.
While in Lookout Mountain, she organized art classes, water ballet performances, swim meets and diving competitions for the neighborhood children. She also began writing a monthly column for the Lookout Mountain Mirror that lasted for 20 years.
With Carroll’s encouragement and mentoring, Sunny Wagner, one of Boatenreiter’s childhood friends, placed second in the Tennessee high school springboard diving championships.
“Of all my parents’ friends, she was the most creative,” said Wagner of Signal Mountain, Tenn. “She had a youthful spirit and was the instigator of fun things. When she saw that I had a little ability, she encouraged me and told me that with hard work you can do anything.”
Adults also were touched by Carroll’s love of music and the arts. In 1990, she and her husband founded the Atlanta Jazz Party. The annual event, now managed by their son Philip, is still held each April and attracts hundreds of jazz fans from around the country.
After retiring, the couple left Roswell and returned to Lookout Mountain where Phil died in 2008, after 58 years of marriage. In 2010, Carroll suffered a stroke and returned to Roswell, moving into an assisted-living facility across from Roswell United Methodist, where she once sang in the adult choir.
Three years ago, she and Boatenreiter joined the church’s Prime Time Singers, a community choir for seniors. The singing was therapeutic for Carroll and a great bonding experience for mother and daughter. Choir members admired Carroll’s determination to sing again. They sang at her memorial service.
“It was clear that the music spoke to her in a very profound way,” said Michael O’Neal, the church’s director of worship arts. Choir members “saw Lee battling after her stroke and fighting to regain her independence and life. That’s something they could honor and respect.”
When Carroll arrived for her last choral rehearsal in January, practice was already underway. She entered the room singing and doing a little dance as she pushed her walker to take her place with the group.
“She did not know that this was her last performance, but she did it with style,” Boatenreiter said. “She loved God and she loved life.”
In addition to her daughter Glenn, Carroll is survived by her daughter Shelley Carroll Thessen of Laurel, Md.; son Philip Carroll VII of Roswell; sister Patricia Weisiger of San Rafael, Calif.; and three grandchildren.
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