Carroll Harper Varner, III

Carroll Harper Varner, III, passed away peacefully at his cabin home at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. The Varner Cabin was built by his father and dear to Carroll’s heart. Carroll was born May 26, 1949, the son of a Methodist Minister, Reverend Carroll Harper Varner, Jr. and Roberta Haas Varner. As a newborn, he lived the first months of his life at the cabin when it was just one room. All summers as a child were spent at the Lake, and he continued the tradition with his own family.

Carroll hiked and camped throughout the Great Smoky Mountains as a Boy Scout, earning the Eagle Scout rank. The Smokies remained a central part of his identity, carrying the spirit of service and an appreciation for nature.

Carroll attended the University of Tennessee at Knoxville where he met Donna Cheaney, and they were married in 1972 at the Lake Junaluska Chapel. They shared 53 years of married life full of adventures, laughter, and love. Together they lived in New York City, Denver, Colorado, Omaha, Nebraska, Dekalb and Normal, Illinois, Greenville, North Carolina, and returning to Lake Junaluska in retirement.

His lifelong interest in history, travel and science led him to a career in libraries, earning his MLS at the University of Denver. He worked as Assistant Library Director at the University of Nebraska, (earning his MBA), Northern Illinois University, Illinois State University (earning his PhD), and Library Director at East Carolina University.

Carroll was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. He instilled in his family a great sense of wonder, humor and the ability to see the bigger picture. He was preceded in death by his parents and one sister, Katherine Varner. He is survived by two sisters, Caroline (Dewitt) Stone, and Corinne Varner, his wife, Donna; his children, Carroll Varner IV and Claire (Gene) Brucker; and four grandchildren—Carson, Henry, Alice, and Lucy Brucker—who were a great source of joy in his later years.