Janet Sharp Carroll

She was preceded in death by her husband of nearly 60 years, Richard Autrell Carroll, her parents Cyrus Henry Sharp Sr and Janet Cadman Sharp, Richard’s parents Willie Mae Smith Carroll and Vincent Walker Carroll, and brother Cyrus H. Sharp jr.

Janet, known as Jan to friends and family, was born July 11, 1936 and raised in Orlando FL. In 1954, at age 18, she made her debut at The Rosalind Club in Orlando. She then first attended Converse College in Spartanburg, SC and later Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL before moving to Atlanta, GA.

After her move to Atlanta, Jan began working as a secretary to a bank manager at Trust Company Bank (later Suntrust and now Truist). She had many friends and an active social life in Atlanta which led to mutual friends setting her and Richard up on a blind date in 1963. They wed in 1966 in Orlando, FL and were happily married 56 years. They had two daughters, Traci and Karen. Theirs was an epic love story, a beautiful example of love and friendship that endured all their years together.

Jan left work to stay at home to raise her two girls, Traci and Karen. She was a devoted wife and mother, volunteering as a room mother at school and for bake sales, and participating in both Campfire Girls and Girl Scouts with her daughters. She taught them both to swim and cheered them on at many swim meets with the neighborhood swim team. She was very artistic and had a small home business painting whimsical designs on shirts, jackets, and skirts that she sewed by hand. She was a talented seamstress making many of her own stylish clothes along with sewing adorable matching outfits for her girls when they were young, and later creating beautiful dresses using Laura Ashley and Vogue patterns among others. She was also talented cake decorator and made her girls many special and unique birthday cakes and planned spectacular birthday parties with handmade invitations, games, and party favors.

She was a wonderful mother who shared her many talents with her girls including sewing, cooking and baking, drawing and painting, knitting, crochet, cross-stitch and embroidery. She loved to play board games, not just with her girls but also her grandsons. She enjoyed family trips to Six Flags and Disney World, and Montreat, NC where her parents had a summer home, and summer activities included rock hopping, paddle-boating, and climbing Lookout Mountain.

When her girls were in high-school, Jan went back to work helping to save money for their college educations. She worked at Maxi Centers and later Ciba-Geigy Pharmaceuticals as an office manager. After retiring from Ciba-Geigy, she planned a beautiful wedding for her daughter Karen. She and Richard then embarked on many trips in the US and abroad that she planned meticulously and kept beautiful scrapbooks of their journeys together. Later they spent more time at home in Atlanta after the birth of their two grandsons, Patrick and Christopher. She was a nurturing grandmother who cared deeply for her two grandsons, and enjoyed playing games with them, watching them grow up, play sports and music, and achieve much academic success.

When her daughters were grown, she was a trusted friend, always available for advice about children, recipes, sewing, crochet, and travel. She encouraged them to live life and follow their dreams.

She was a resident of Sandy Springs for more than 50 years and developed many wonderful friendships through garden club, bridge group, neighborhood scrapbooking, and school activities. She enjoyed walking around the neighborhood every morning with her friends, and although she never kept track, always had the goal of walking the same distance as walking around the world.

Jan is survived by her two daughters Traci Carroll and Karen Harper and their husbands Jim Hunter and Sean Harper who she loved as sons, and her two grandsons Patrick and Christopher Harper. She is also survived by her sister Virginia “Jenny” Bailey (Ken), their children Adair Barnes Owen (David), MacCauley Barnes Braswell, Mark Bailey, Susan Bailey Nosbuesch (Manfred), Dorothy Bailey, and the children of Jan’s brother, Shirley Sharp, Lyn Sharp Littrell and Cyrus Sharp III (Nancy).

On Richard’s side, she is survived by her brother-in-law Charles Vincent Carroll, her niece Mary Ann Carroll Collins (Glyn) and Mary Ann’s son Carroll Alexander Johnson.

Jan was beautiful, artistic, out-going and kind. She was loved by all who knew her and will be deeply missed.