Carol Crichton Sharkey

Carol had a sweeping life. She was born to Lloyd and Jean Crichton in pre WWII Philippines where her Scottish father worked as a lead accountant for a mining company. Shortly after the Pearl Harbor invasion, her family along with other expatriates were imprisoned in Santo Tomas internment camp for 4 yrs. After the US Army liberated the Philippines in February, 1945, she returned with her family to northern California to stay with relatives. Her father returned to Philippines to reorganize the mining company but would die of pneumonia in 1946.

Carol would graduate from high school in Burlingame, CA and then attended college in Scotland for 2yrs, including University of Glasgow, close to relatives. She returned to the US and elected to be a stewardess for United Airlines. She worked for four years in Philadelphia, Detroit, San Francisco, and NY. She would retire after her marriage to William Joseph Sharkey of Philadelphia in 1963.

The Sharkey family would move from Philadelphia to Louisville and then Atlanta for her spouse’s corporate legal career. Carol raised her three sons, Brian, Kevin, and Craig and was a devoted mother. She sustained an active devotion to volunteerism to the communities that she lived. Most notably, she worked for greater than 15 years as a gift shop manager for the Shepherd Spinal Center and served as treasurer for several years for the Atlanta show houses, an important fundraiser for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, Carol, despite developing a distaste for air travel later in life, was an intrepid traveler and visited Europe, Middle East and Far East on multiple occasions.

Carol is survived by her children Brian of Columbia, MD, Kevin of Charlotte, NC, and Craig of Denver, Co; her sister Joyce Preston of Kansas City, MO and half sister Mary Adele Gregory of Edinburgh, Scotland; her daughter-in-laws Deborah, Thalia, and Martha; grandchildren Grace, Christopher, Caroline, Christine, William, Lydia, and Eugenia; and her former husband William Joseph Sharkey of Charlotte, NC.

Carol will have her memorial service at Crosswalk Lutheran Church, 8940 Old Annapolis Rd Ste D, Columbia, Md 21045 on Saturday 11/8/2025 at 11:30am. Contributions in Carol’s memory can be made to the Shepherd Center/Rehabilitation Hospital of Atlanta, GA. https://donate.shepherd.org