Obituaries

In Remembrance: Robert E. Carroll ’45E Died on February 12 2020

Robert Everett Carroll Jr. of West Hartford, Connecticut, and Chatham, Massachusetts, passed away peacefully on February 12, 2020, at age 95.

He grew up in West Hartford, and graduated from Kingswood School in 1942. Like his father before him, Bob entered Yale University. A member of the class of 1945W, he joined the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps, and after completing two academic years, in February 1944 he was commissioned an ensign. He reported for active duty in the Naval Amphibious Forces.

After a few weeks of training on Chesapeake Bay, at age 19, he became executive officer of USS LCI 689, a new vessel launched in Boston and assigned to the Asiatic‐Pacific area of operations. They crossed the Pacific via the Panama Canal, Bora Bora, New Caledonia, the Admiralty Islands, New Guinea, and then to the Philippines. Over a span of seven months, his ship earned a Combat Action ribbon and a battle star on the Philippine Service ribbon for landing troops on a number of islands. During that time Bob became a lieutenant (JG) commanding officer of the ship.

After the Japanese surrender, his group was sent to Korea and then to China to transport troops of the 1st Marine Division up the Ho River to Tientsin, the first US occupation troops to land in China. His ship then returned to Korea and back to the United States, completing a two-year tour.

Returning to Yale, he graduated in 1948 with a BS degree from the School of Engineering. In September of that year, Bob and Anne Carter Harrison of West Hartford were married.

After ten years in manufacturing and sales promotion at the Stanley Works and at Ingraham Co., he met Professor Vernon Krieble of Trinity College who, together with his son, had formed a company to manufacture and market a sealant material they had invented. Bob joined the fledgling company, Loctite, as manager of market development, and the sealant products became widely accepted by industry and professionals. During 1973 and 1974 Bob worked out of Loctite’s European headquarters in the Netherlands.

Bob was active in the YMCA of greater Hartford, serving in various capacities including chairman of the board from 1980 to 1984. He also served as chairman of the YMCA Eastern Region and as a director on the national board of the YMCA of the USA from 1984 to 1992. He was a delegate to the YMCA World Council meeting in Denmark in 1985. He was a recipient of the Robert C. Knox YMCA Distinguished Leadership Award in 1996, and a member of the YMCA Old Guard.

Bob also served on the board of the American School for the Deaf for many years, where he was president of the school from 1987 to 1990.

In 1972 Bob and Anne bought a house on the waterfront in Chatham on Cape Cod where their family held many gatherings. Physically active, Bob enjoyed sailing, skiing, golf, and tennis. He built a cabin in Vermont which became their base for New England skiing. Bob and Anne also joined English and Dutch friends to ski in Austria, Switzerland, and the French Alps. Bob was predeceased by his wife Anne, with whom he shared a 68-year happy marriage, and by daughter Amy. He is survived by two children, seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

—Submitted by the family.

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