Carol Ann Meyerdirk

Carol Ann Meyerdirk, 85, died peacefully on August 31, 2026. She is preceded in death by her husband of 56 years, Darrel R. Meyerdirk, and her parents Phyllis and AT Dodd. She is survived by her sisters, Betty Matthews and June Stewart; her children, Karl Meyerdirk and Karen Liggett; her 3 grandchildren Everett, m, and Sam Liggett; 4 nephews and nieces; and many grand nieces and nephews.

Carol began life and grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, the middle child. She and her sisters took dance and piano lessons, and sang in the church choir. Her Little Rock high school was closed her senior year due to the newly desegregated high schools and had to finish school in a different town. She attended Henderson University and UALR. Around that time she met and married Darrel. She worked at Farm Bureau while finishing graduate school. She taught elementary school in the Little Rock Public Schools for over 30 years, most of it as a 4th grade teacher. She was the first teacher in Arkansas, with her dear friend and fellow 4th grade teacher, Barbara Harrison, to get a grant to buy and bring personal computers into the classroom around 1980. She used the computers to help the students learn math, geography, and computer programming in her classroom. She later became the computer specialist teaching this for the whole school.

Carol began playing tennis with her friends and taking lessons in the late 1970s. She developed a love for the sport and played 3-5 times per week until she couldn’t see the ball any more, well into her 80s. She was the team captain for her senior, then super senior, then super super senior tennis teams, going to many tournaments and team retreats over the years. This group of ladies was so important to her.

She played in several bridge groups with dear friends who supported each other through all the ups and downs of life.

She sang in the Trinity UMC Chancel Choir for over 40 years. At Trinity she served on various committees, was a member of the Friends in Faith Sunday School Class, and headed up the Garden Guild for over a decade – creating and maintaining annual and perennial flower gardens, leaving the area more beautiful than when she started.

She loved gardening, watching birds, traveling, reading, and Razorback basketball. She will be dearly missed by her friends, family, and neighbors.

A celebration of life service will be held at Trinity United Methodist Church, 1101 N. Mississippi St., Little Rock on Friday, September 4th at 2pm with a visitation at 1pm before the service.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the choir program at Trinity United Methodist Church, 1101 N. Mississippi, LR 72207. An online guestbook is available at www.griffinleggetthealeyroth.com.