Carol P. Ayotte

Carol Ayotte (nee Petefish) was many things in her life: a daughter, an Army wife, a mother, a grandmother, a great-grandmother, but most of all she was a teacher and an artist. While her career of over 35 years was spent teaching every grade level from pre-school to high school at a variety of schools from small private schools to Department of Defense schools in Europe to public schools, she literally spent every day of her life until the week before she died “teaching” others. When she wasn’t in the classroom, she was teaching her grandchildren to sew or to draw, helping adults create fabric art, dolls, and quilts by teaching about colors and patterns, and generally, through example, showing how to live a full and active life.

As an artist, Carol worked in almost every medium. Her formal university degree was in Math with an Art Minor in oil painting and pencil drawing. When working on her Masters in Fine Arts, she taught herself how to weld and braze in order to create large metal sculptures, and learned to do lithographs. Teaching high school art, she mastered ceramics, mixed media, silk screening, and animation using the very early MAC computers. After retiring from teaching, she began working in fabrics. Not content to just “quilt”, she made dolls and wall hangings– several of which were featured in national books about fabric art. She was actively creating new fabric art up to the end.

Born in Springfield, IL, Carol was raised to be an independent and strong woman. Her father, Charles, was a High School principal and Guidance Counselor. Her mother, Helen, died when Carol was thirteen years old, so she had to take responsibility early for herself.

She attended the University of Illinois, where she met her life-partner, Ronald Ayotte (who pre-deceased her by 5 years). On Jun 18, 1955, she managed to graduate in the morning, get married in the afternoon, and then head off to be a Camp Counselor at a Girl Scout Camp that evening.

The next 30 years were spent as an Army wife; moving over 20 times as she accompanied Ron on his assignments. These assignments included Germany in the early 1960s, Moscow at the height of the Cold War (Ron was the Army Attaché), and in Warsaw in the early 1980s, during the Solidarity Movement (Ron was the Defense Attaché). Her stories of her times in the diplomatic world were legendary.

After retirement, Carol relocated to East Sandwich, MA, where she lived for 30 years. During that time, she continued to teach quilting and fabric art at local stores, and substituted as an art teacher at the Sturgis School in Hyannis, where she touched many lives and made many life-long friends.

Carol is survived by her son Brett and Karen, his wife, along with their children Tim (Katie) Suzanne, and Emily, and Tim and Katie’s son Kemper; as well as her son Ross and Kristi, his wife, and his children Catherine (Dillon) and Elizabeth.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Tuesday, July 7, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. at the West Parish of Barnstable Church, 2049 Meetinghouse Way, West Barnstable, MA 02668. All are welcome to join the family in remembering Carol.

Memorial donations can be made to:

Wounded Warrior Project (support.woundedwarriorproject.org) or

St. Jude Children’s Hospital (stjude.org)