Margaret M. Carroll

Margaret Mary Carroll, age 63, of Cumberland, Maine died unexpectedly at her home on Monday, May 3, 2010. Born August 18, 1946 in Attleboro, Massachusetts, she was the first daughter of the late Edward Joseph Bagley and Anne Loretta (Kennedy) Bagley.

Mrs. Carroll was a registered nurse whose life’s work was simply the compassionate and loving care for the most vulnerable of our society. Whether it was teaching disadvantaged, inner-city students in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania how to become Certified Nursing Assistants, serving as an emergency-room nurse at Cardinal Cushing General Hospital in Brockton, Massachusetts, and, for the past twenty years, as a nurse for the elderly with Alzheimer’s disease at both Gorham House in Gorham, Maine and Sedgewood Commons in Falmouth, Maine, she always put the comfort and needs of others ahead of her own. She was most at ease with her “friends” with Alzheimer’s disease, because she was unafraid to engage, on a daily basis, one of the most debilitating human conditions imaginable, put the condition aside and see the beauty of the fragile person beneath, and connect with that person on the most basic of human levels, just the core desire to belong and to be treated as an ordinary person free of any infirmity. Her limitless capacity for genuine kindness in making her friends feel appreciated and loved was unsurpassed. She will likely be missed most by the grateful sons, daughters, and spouses of those that she will no longer be able to care for.

Survivors include her only child, Randy J. Creswell, Esq., from a prior marriage, and his wife, Gwen C. Allen, and their two children and Mrs. Carroll’s grandchildren, Charles Allen Creswell and Neve Allen Creswell; her stepchildren with her late-husband, Major James T. Carroll, Jr., Esq. (U.S.M.C., Ret.), Mrs. Veronica Vetro and her husband Dominic, and their son and her grandchild, Zachary Vetro, James T. Carroll III, and Ernest T. Carroll and his wife Susan. Also surviving are her sisters, Angela De Martin, Claire Barrows, Marie Bagley, Lisa Fisher, Julie Piecewicz, and Mrs. Carroll’s brother, Joseph Bagley, and her in-laws, Diana and The Honorable Thomas H. Allen, Esq. of Portland, Maine, and Kathleen and Jacob McCabe of Portland, Maine.

Mrs. Carroll’s relationship with her husband, Jim, was one of complete trust and compassion, unconditional love and friendship, and absolute passion for each other. They were engaged within weeks of their courtship, married within months of their meeting, and were together through all the momentous, and little, moments that made up their lifetime together. His passing in February 2006 was an unrelenting darkness in Mrs. Carroll’s life that was only lifted by the brightest light her in world, her grandson, Charlie. Her brief time with Charlie was filled with laughter and joy, and it provided her with a brief respite from the sadness of the loss of her husband. Charlie will miss his “Nana.”

Relatives and friends are invited to attend a memorial visitation on Thursday, May 6, 2010, from 5 – 8 p.m. at Jones, Rich & Hucthins Funeral Home, 199 Woodford Street, ME and again on Friday May 7, 2010, from 5 – 8 p.m. at Roberts & Sons Funeral Home, 30 South Street, Foxboro, MA.

A memorial service will be conducted Saturday, May 8, 2010 at 10:00 a.m., at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Mrs. Carroll will subsequently be buried along her side her husband in Arlington National Cemetery.

Memorials in lieu of flowers may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Fl. 17, Chicago, IL 60601.

Please visit www.jonesrichandhutchins.com for additional information and to sign Margaret’s guestbook.

Jones, Rich & Hutchins Funeral Home & Cremation Services

199 Woodford St.

Portland, ME 04103

207-775-3763

www.jonesrichandhutchins.com