Emily F. Carr

Annapolis resident Emily Ford Carr, 85, passed away peacefully on Monday, August 17, 2020 in Dewey Beach, Delaware. She was surrounded by her family in the summer home she built with her husband and children.

Born January 15, 1935 in Lothian, Maryland, Emily was the eldest daughter of James A. Ford, a businessman and member of the Maryland House of Delegates and Nettie M. Ford, Lothian’s postmaster for 44 years. She was named after her parent’s good friend, Dr. Emily H. Wilson, the first female doctor in southern Anne Arundel County.

Emily Carr graduated from Southern High School in Lothian in 1953 where she was a Bulldogs cheerleader, prom queen, and member of various sports teams. She continued her education at the University of Maryland, College Park, majoring in physical education until being swept off her feet by her Prince Charming, Benjamin Warrington Carr.

They married in the summer of 1954 in St. James Parish, Lothian, Maryland. After a forced military stint in Columbia, SC they moved to Florida and then Illinois for Ben’s academic endeavors. Pamela Warrington Carr was born in Miami, Florida followed two years later by Wendy Michelle Carr in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. After Ben earned his second degree in Architecture the family returned to Annapolis, Maryland wherein Jacqueline Warrington Carr (Jill) and Brent Warrington Carr were born.

Brent coined Emily’s favorite title after the birth of Pam’s daughter Emily in 1982. He saw grandmother carrying namesake granddaughter over the dune and said to his friend, “There’s Em and Em.” From that day forward, grandmother Emily was affectionately introduced to the world as “MM”.

Motherhood was her happiest achievement and being matriarch to a multigenerational household was a role she treasured. Her title of MM to her only graHolding a very close second was being a fashionista. Emily loved dressing and styling her friends and strangers alike. She honed this skill working with her sisters, Ann Ford King at Lipman’s in Annapolis and Ollie Ford Miller at The Chifforobe in Harwood. And in every dressing room in every store she ever shopped. When Emily butted heads with her children regarding their outfit choice, our father would ask her, “What, did all of your Barbie dolls grow up?”

In the 1960’s and 70’s Emily was very active in her children’s school, Hillsmere Elementary. Leading the Cancer Society fundraisers, being a fifth grade teaching assistant, or holding a crying child, Emily’s presence was all over that school.

In 1987 Emily along with her family opened The Two Seas Restaurant in Dewey Beach, Delaware. She turned what had been our father’s years long family construction project into an acclaimed fine dining eatery. For 33 summers she worked daily behind the scene busied with orders and paperwork. But it was the evening that gave her the greatest joy. She reveled in the role of hostess greeting every guest as family and friend. She was a Dewey Beach icon and will be truly missed by the generations of families celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, and friendship over a meal in our home, the Two Seas Restaurant.

Her winters were highlighted by adventures to Broadway with her daughters and granddaughter. Musical theatre, particularly Phantom of the Opera, being her true passion. Secretly or not so secretly, she saw herself starring in Kinky Boots.

Though Emily Ford Carr stood at only 5’2” she was a force to reckon with, a personality greater than the room within she stood, a mother to many and always the best dressed. She accepted people from all walks of life, holding a special place in her heart for the developmentally disabled. She will be remembered with love as the character she created, the legend she became and the youthful stride to which she danced.

Emily is predeceased by her parents, an older brother she adored, Harry A. Ford II, the youngest Ford sister she helped raise after their father’s early death, Judith Ford McHenry, and the love of her life, her son Brent Warrington Carr.

She is survived by her adoring husband, Benjamin Warrington Carr, daughters Pam, Wendy and Jill, granddaughter Emily Warrington Ansel (Alex Cohan) and great granddaughter Olivia James Warrington Cohan.

Also surviving are her loving sisters, Ann Ford King and Ollie Ford Miller, and her dearest childhood friend, our Aunt Nancy, Nancy C. Parlett.

A graveside service will be held at 1:00 pm on Saturday, August 22, 2020 at St. James Parish, Lothian, Maryland. Social distancing and masks required.