Betty Sue Carroll

This wonderful lady passed away in Englewood FL on February 8, 2016 after valiantly fighting for several years a triple onslaught of diseases. She was under Hospice Care and felt no pain. As she had always been in life, in death, she was in ease and grace.

Betty Sue Garner grew up in Ann Arbor MI, shifting to West Field NJ for her High School senior year. A gifted student and avid reader, she pursued English honors courses at DePauw (Indiana) University, graduating with a Phi Beta Kappa Key. She taught High School in Indianapolis, then moved to NYC, and then transitioned into the advertising industry where she excelled as a media buyer for several large firms. On one extended break from work she decided to see the world and circled the globe in an exciting and educational year-long tour.

Skiing one day in Vermont, she met Bob Carroll, at that time a leadership instructor at West Point. Falling madly in love, they were married at West Point in 1972. Bob was shortly ordered to Vietnam, and Betty Sue followed. It turned out the Army had a policy of no dependents in Vietnam, but Betty Sue never considered herself a �"dependent”. She obtained a visa on her own, entered Vietnam, and under The US Agency for International Development taught English to Vietnamese adults en route to the States for graduate school. The couple stayed in Saigon after the bombing of Hanoi, after the US POW’s were released from North Vietnam, and after the last US soldiers left the Republic of Vietnam. They left Vietnam in June of 1973, while Saigon was still peaceful and a good two years before the North Vietnamese invasion and conquest of the South in 1975.

Back in the States, KC and Cody were born and raised, as the couple moved from Alabama, to Colorado, to Germany, and to Washington DC. When Bob retired from the Army in 1983, the couple moved to Buffalo NY where Betty Sue thrived with one of her true real loves: horses. She ran a small horse boarding and breeding business and won a slew of medals in �"dressage”, looking striking as a petite blonde in a tuxedo and top hat, sitting astride her jet black, seventeen-hands Hanoverian. Moving to Youngstown OH in 1990, she continued her horse-riding pursuits but eventually succumbed to the lure of Florida.

After a few years of sampling Naples and Ft Myers on monthly rental stints, the Carrolls in 1995 bought on Manasota Key becoming snow birds. After five years, they became permanent residents. Since then, Betty Sue has been actively involved in environmental and construction issues with the Manasota and Sandpiper Key Association, lobbying effectively with the County Government to maintain the island’s unique, low-key ambiance and to prevent another Florida sky scraper island.

Betty Sue had a long, happy, and fun-filled life. She is greatly missed by her husband of 43 years, Colonel Robert C. Carroll, US Army (Retired); her son Dr. Kenneth Cooper Carroll and daughter-in-law Julie Gayle Carroll; her son Robert Cody Carroll and daughter-in-law Jennifer Louise Carroll; her brother Robert Douglas Garner; three wonderful grandchildren, Cooper, Owen, and London; as well as four brothers/sisters-in-law, a score of nephews, nieces, and cousins, and an untold number of friends.

Betty Sue Carroll

This wonderful lady passed away in Englewood FL on February 8, 2016 after valiantly fighting for several years a triple onslaught of diseases. She was under Hospice Care and felt no pain. As she had always been in life, in death, she was in ease and grace.

Betty Sue Garner grew up in Ann Arbor MI, shifting to West Field NJ for her High School senior year. A gifted student and avid reader, she pursued English honors courses at DePauw (Indiana) University, graduating with a Phi Beta Kappa Key. She taught High School in Indianapolis, then moved to NYC, and then transitioned into the advertising industry where she excelled as a media buyer for several large firms. On one extended break from work she decided to see the world and circled the globe in an exciting and educational year-long tour.

Skiing one day in Vermont, she met Bob Carroll, at that time a leadership instructor at West Point. Falling madly in love, they were married at West Point in 1972. Bob was shortly ordered to Vietnam, and Betty Sue followed. It turned out the Army had a policy of no dependents in Vietnam, but Betty Sue never considered herself a �"dependent”. She obtained a visa on her own, entered Vietnam, and under The US Agency for International Development taught English to Vietnamese adults en route to the States for graduate school. The couple stayed in Saigon after the bombing of Hanoi, after the US POW’s were released from North Vietnam, and after the last US soldiers left the Republic of Vietnam. They left Vietnam in June of 1973, while Saigon was still peaceful and a good two years before the North Vietnamese invasion and conquest of the South in 1975.

Back in the States, KC and Cody were born and raised, as the couple moved from Alabama, to Colorado, to Germany, and to Washington DC. When Bob retired from the Army in 1983, the couple moved to Buffalo NY where Betty Sue thrived with one of her true real loves: horses. She ran a small horse boarding and breeding business and won a slew of medals in �"dressage”, looking striking as a petite blonde in a tuxedo and top hat, sitting astride her jet black, seventeen-hands Hanoverian. Moving to Youngstown OH in 1990, she continued her horse-riding pursuits but eventually succumbed to the lure of Florida.

After a few years of sampling Naples and Ft Myers on monthly rental stints, the Carrolls in 1995 bought on Manasota Key becoming snow birds. After five years, they became permanent residents. Since then, Betty Sue has been actively involved in environmental and construction issues with the Manasota and Sandpiper Key Association, lobbying effectively with the County Government to maintain the island’s unique, low-key ambiance and to prevent another Florida sky scraper island.

Betty Sue had a long, happy, and fun-filled life. She is greatly missed by her husband of 43 years, Colonel Robert C. Carroll, US Army (Retired); her son Dr. Kenneth Cooper Carroll and daughter-in-law Julie Gayle Carroll; her son Robert Cody Carroll and daughter-in-law Jennifer Louise Carroll; her brother Robert Douglas Garner; three wonderful grandchildren, Cooper, Owen, and London; as well as four brothers/sisters-in-law, a score of nephews, nieces, and cousins, and an untold number of friends.

Later this year, Betty Sue’s cremated remains will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, awaiting her husband. In the near term the family plans to honor her spiritual wish at a private celebration of life at her home. Betty Sue’s preference is for donations to Tidewell Hospice in lieu of flowers. (https://tidewellhospice.org/welcome/donors)

Arrangements were made by the Lemon Bay Funeral Home and Cremation Services. You may share a memory or express condolences to the family at www.lemonbayfh.com

God be with you Betty Sue.

Betty Sue’s preference is for donations to Tidewell Hospice in lieu of flowers. (https://tidewellhospice.org/welcome/donors)

Arrangements were made by the Lemon Bay Funeral Home and Cremation Services. You may share a memory or express condolences to the family at www.lemonbayfh.com

God be with you Betty Sue.