Carolyn Louise Bale

Carolyn Louise Bale passed away on March 20, 2026. She was beloved by her husband, the Rev. Dr. Harvey E. Bale, Jr, her two sons Charles E. Bale and Christopher E. Bale and her in-laws and grandchildren and great grandchildren.

She led an active, creative and valiant life. She was born December 1942 in Queens, New York to Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Francis Egbert and Ebba Elmgren (both now buried at Arlington National Cemetery). At four years of age, the family shipped to Japan as part of the first wave of the postwar American military occupation. Living in Osaka and Kyoto several years gave her a taste of her future international life. She even experienced one of Japan’s major earthquakes (7-scale) that destroyed Fukui and surrounding areas in 1948. She returned to New York as her father was dispatched to Korea at the outbreak of the Korean War. Later the family moved to Germany and France on her father’s military deployment. She took Maryland University studies while in Europe, and came back to the USA to work as an executive assistant at IBM in Maryland.

Married to Harvey in 1970, she accompanied him to Geneva, Switzerland where Harvey served as a senior negotiator in global trade negotiations. Carolyn had suffered major back, neck and facial injuries before leaving for Geneva, being the victim of a rear-end collision on Beltway. After several years’ recovery she was ready for the travel abroad (once again) and in Geneva she excelled –including building back her physical strength at skiing, tennis and softball. She was a superior performer at all her sports

Returning to America she enjoyed, and excelled at, cultivating wildflowers and for several years co-chaired the Landon School wildflower team that tirelessly prepared for wildflower sales at Landon’s annual 3-day Azalea Festival. She also cultivated elaborate rock and flower gardens at her Bethesda and Potomac homes. Watercolor painting also was a passion that emerged in her Geneva stay and only. All this while raising two sons and managing her much-beloved Wheaten Terrier who kept close company with her when, all too frequently, Harvey had government and business matters abroad.

Several years later, she returned to Geneva with Harvey to support him in his new international pharmaceutical leadership position. During a decade’s-long stay, Carolyn frequently returned to the states to care heroically for her parents, whose health was failing.

She also had to deal with a return of her old accident’s pains.In the past dozen years, Carolyn suffered a broken shoulder, back-implant surgery, and right knee and left hip surgery. Her family and her art skills helped sustain her. But she then experienced an incurable pulmonary illness (ILD) which, over two years of her resistance, gradually weakened her physically. She passed away at home on March 20.

Carolyn’s husband, married to her over 55 years, describes Carolyn as strongly valiant in the face of persistent pain-challenges that she faced to the end. Her courage and fortitude were great, accompanied by likeability, generosity and love. Regarding his beloved wife, Harvey finds pertinent a quotation from Helen Keller (We Bereaved): “What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.

Truly, life is overlord of Death, and Love can never lose its own.” Love of Carolyn will never be lost. Carolyn has overcome Death, even as she now rests in peace.

A viewing will be held on Friday May 15 from 4:30 PM to 7:30 PM at Joseph Gawler's Sons, 5130 Wisconsin Ave. NW. The funeral service will be Saturday May 16, at 2:00 PM at Saint David's Episcopal Church, 5150 Macomb St. NW. In lieu of flowers, Carolyn would wish donations to go to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital (https://www.stjude.org).