Carolyn Joan Vail

Carolyn Joan Vail passed away on December 9, 2024, in Littleton, Massachusetts, after a brave battle with cancer and related complications. She was 82 years old.

Carolyn was one of a kind -- extraordinary in every respect. She was born in Hartford, Connecticut. 

Carolyn was born with a hearing impairment that was not discovered until she was a toddler. (Her speech was delayed slightly as a child, leading to the discovery of the hearing issue.) This differing ability would impact the way she interacted with the world around her, but never really held her back in any respect in her life.

And what a life she led!

She spent her formative childhood years in Massachusetts, including in West Acton and South Yarmouth. She graduated from Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School, in South Yarmouth, in 1962. Carolyn moved to Boxborough, Massachusetts around that time, after her mother Edith Jean Noftle and her stepfather Harold Notftle built their longtime house on Old Harvard Road there.

In her 20s, Carolyn became a "born again" Christian. This changed her entire worldview and outlook on life and our purpose here. 

Carolyn was physically strong and worked hard her entire life. Over her working life Carolyn had many jobs, including as nanny, elder caregiver, and factory worker, among others. Some of the jobs she held entailed significant physical labor, and Carolyn never complained about or objected to hard and demanding work. Her various jobs took her to far flung places, including Colorado. 

She devoted considerable love and attention and care to her younger brother Roger Vail (California). Although Roger was 12 years younger than Carolyn and sometimes lived on opposite coasts, the two were very close up until Roger passed away in 1991.

Carolyn moved back to Massachusetts in the late 2000s to care for her (now late) mother Edith after Edith had a stroke. She cared tirelessly for her mother and provided wonderful companionship to Edith in Edith's final years. 

After her mother died in 2011, Carolyn spent her remaining years in her childhood home on Old Harvard Road, volunteering at various charities, spreading the Gospel, and keeping up with her many and varied relatives around the country. She would regularly hand out Christian pamphlets wherever she went, hoping to share God's love with anyone willing to listen (including ministering to those without homes on many occasions). 

She also loved family traditions and her mother's cooking and shared many of her mother's treasured recipes up until near the end of her life. 

She will be very sorely missed.

Carolyn is survived by (among others): Her brother Garfield Vail (Mississippi); her cousins Linda Wilson Tedeschi Wilson (East Sandwich, MA) and Bill Wilson (East Haven, CT); her various nieces and nephews, including Goddaughter Katharine Vail Talarico and Jane Vail (upstate NY) and Daniel Vail (Washington, D.C.); and loving, lifelong friends and helpers who provided care and support during her final months, such as Ann Kirchman (Stow), Catherine Kirchman (Portland), Jennifer Jaroch (Acton), and Sherrill Gould (advisor and attorney).

The family would like to thank everyone in the Boxborough, MA and surrounding community – including the Office for the Aging and the Boxborough Police Department – for looking out for and helping Carolyn so much in her later years with so many things, big and small. God is Good!

The family and close friends will hold a private graveside burial service at Ancient Cemetery in Yarmouth, where the family burial plots are located.