Carolyn (Lowrey) Sloss

Caroline was born and raised in Thomaston, AL where her father owned a large farm and raised walking horses. Her mother was a teacher. As the only daughter in a family of five brothers, she stood out, quickly demonstrating exceptional gifts that would take her far away from the quiet country life. She was smart, creative and beautiful. Like many in her family, she was a talented singer. When she was 12, she and her mother moved to Jacksonville, AL. Her mother became Head of the Home Economics Dept. at Jacksonville State University. Caroline received voice lessons and sang in the church choir. She dazzled all who knew her, not just with her voice and physical beauty, but with her sparkling personality, quick wit and charm.

As a teenager, she attended a summer program in Princeton, NJ where she studied operatic voice. Albert Einstein was in residence there at the time and on daily strolls to the ice cream shop, she and classmates would stop by his front porch for a neighborly chat. The experience strengthened her work ethic and desire to one day sing in New York. Returning to Alabama, she enrolled at Judson College in Marion, AL at age 16. She developed her soprano voice to coloratura, singing the most difficult operatic pieces with ease. A natural onstage, she was beautiful to watch and hear. While at Judson, she was invited to sing all over the state. She completed her college education at the University of Alabama, where she was a member of Phi Mu. She won beauty contests, was Maid of Cotton of Alabama, Miss Tuscaloosa and ultimately Miss Alabama, Alternate. She moved to New York to study voice and dance at the Fagin School, then joined the New York Metropolitan Opera, where she sang for 2 years.

During this time, she traveled with the Opera to perform in other major cities and met other greats of her time, including Duke Ellington. She loved everything about New York – the plays, museums, and men in uniform, but it was a handsome military man from Birmingham, Arthur Page “Pete” Sloss, Jr., who swept her off her feet. She and Pete eloped on New Year’s Eve, 1951. The couple eventually settled in Birmingham and spent the rest of their happily married lives there together.

Caroline continued to sing onstage and in churches around the Southeast while she raised her three girls. She started the Music and Arts Club and performed at the Alabama and Lyric Theatres. She invited great musicians and artists to come to Birmingham, including Van Cliburn and Victor Borge. She led the Festival of Arts, Gaieties and Vanities. She was a Girl Scout Leader and soloist in the choir at the Church of the Advent. Along with Pete, she earned her pilot’s license, flew a glider, became a great sailor and learned to fly fish. She was deeply spiritual and loved her church. She went out of her way to help poor and lost individuals, joined women’s clubs and continued to practice her singing daily.

Caroline loved Birmingham and was always trying to make it a more beautiful, appealing city. She convinced Millie Johnstone to bring the iconic Tea House to the Botanical Gardens. She persuaded the city to move a statue of Brother Bryan to Vulcan Park, and to undertake needed improvements that paved the way for its longevity. In the 1970s, when she learned that Sloss Furnaces might be torn down, she went to Washington and convinced a friend at the Department of the Interior to insure its protection as a national landmark. An admirer of the needlepoint chairs and kneelers in the National Cathedral in DC, she started the American Needlepoint Guild to promote similar projects in great churches. As its membership grew, she expanded it to the International Needlepoint Guild. With her leadership, the group created a tapestry of all the UN member nation crests, presented this “Peace Rug” to the United Nations in 1975; it hung in the UN main lobby for over 30 years. The group created similar tapestries for Judson College and for the State of Alabama.

Caroline sought out famous and illustrious people and many became lifelong friends – Grace Kelly, Susan Hayward, Mary Martin, Prest Blake, Bonnie Swearingen, Mary Walsh and Mary Badham. She was irrepressible, speaking with a classic Southern accent. Her beauty, personal manner and friendliness made a lasting impression. Her adventures throughout life generated unforgettable stories which family and friends have never tired of sharing. They help paint the portrait of an extraordinary woman, larger than life, bursting with vitality, loving with depth, unstoppable. There will never be another like her.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Leonard Moscow Lowrey and Mary Bettie Lunceford Lowrey and her devoted husband of 68 years, Arthur Page Sloss, Jr. (“Pete”), her five brothers, Leonard, Belton, Milton, Jerry and Wilbur. She is survived by her daughters, Catherine Sloss Jones (Paul), Carolyn Sloss Ratliff (Will) and Leigh Sloss-Corra (Stan Bosich); six grandchildren, Arthur Crenshaw (Chelsea), Tom Ratliff (Melody), Cassie Ratliff, Lillie Ratliff (Sam Breslow), George Corra and Sophie Corra (Andy Faulkner); and two great-grandchildren, Jesse and Cara Crenshaw. The family wishes to thank the incredible kindness and loving care of De’Quastaye Oliver, Katiera Sanders, Shavon Sykes, Alvinette Bowie, and Alee Wright, who made it possible for her to spend her declining years at home; also, the very fine people of Affinity Hospice, and Founders Place. A service will be held on Wednesday, May 25th, at St. Luke's Church, with a visitation at 10am, and funeral at 11am. A family graveside service will be held at Oak Hill Cemetery at 3pm. The family requests that any memorials be made to “Light Up Sloss,” Sloss Furnaces Foundation, 20 32nd Street North, Birmingham, AL 35222, Historic Oak Hill Memorial Association, PO Box 2363, Birmingham, AL 35201, or Founders Place, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 3736 Montrose Road, Birmingham, AL 35213.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.ridoutsvalleychapel.com for the Sloss family.