Mary Carroll

Mary Elizabeth Carroll died peaceably in her sleep on July 30th 2021. She died of a hemorrhagic bleed a few days after suffering an in-house fall, surrounded by loving family in her home in Highland Utah.

Mary was born on June 19th 1943 in St. Louis Missouri. She was the third of four siblings born to Howard Lester Evans and Gertrude Johns Evans. She grew up in the Grass Valley area of California. She was active in Job's Daughters and during her senior year of High School was elected “Honored Queen”. She attended a medical secretarial College in San Francisco, and then worked in a physician's office in Loyola California. In 1963 she moved to Livermore California where she was employed by the General Electric Company at The Vallecitos Nuclear Center. There she met Charles Edward Kurz and they were married in 1970 in Mexico. She proved to be very accomplished in her career and was quickly promoted to the position of Administrative Assistant to the site manager.

In 1975 they moved to Colorado and acquired about 35 Acres of land, built a home and began raising their five children. In addition to their children, they sponsored and cared for numerous foster children. They returned to Grass Valley in the late 1980s and Chuck died there in 1988.

After Chuck’s death, Mary wanted to do more to use her skills to help and serve others. So, despite her many accomplishments she chose to change her vocation to the medical field where she served in hospitals, care centers, a nunnery, a convent, and in private homes. She found great joy in using her skills, resources, knowledge and experience in ways that she felt made a difference.

Mary moved to Utah and married im Carroll on the 19th of November in 2009. She attended church with Jim for several months, and received the missionary discussions, but it wasn’t until she had her own personal witness that this is what she should do, that she joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She later received her endowments in the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple.

Mary loved being a ministering sister and made many wonderful friends in her ward and neighborhood. She was a dear friend to so many and loved sharing antidotes and photographs and stories about life’s daily lessons and simple pleasures. It was not uncommon to get an email from Mary, telling a story about a duck or a deer she had encountered during the day, with a photo and story attached. She was a great observer and lover of nature.

Before Covid, she and Jim enjoyed taking road trips to visit family and friends. and spent many happy hours on the road traveling to Kansas, New Mexico, Southern Utah, and California.

Mary loved doing family history work and spent many wonderful hours searching records of ancestors, scanning family photos, and documenting her family’s story. She loved visiting her many friends and having them visit her and often give them little gifts to show her love and appreciation. She will be missed by so many.

Because of her and her family’s history of strokes, she insisted that Jim do the driving, because she refused to run the risk of endangering anyone else on the road, should she have another stroke. She would often quote her brother by saying, “We, (speaking of her family) don’t know when we are going to die, but we do know how.” This proved prophetic.

Mary was preceded in death by her husband Charles Kurz, her parents Howard Lester Evans and Gertrude Johns Evans. She is survived by her husband Jim Carroll and all five of her children, all of her grandchildren, and three siblings.