Carol Sheehan

Carol Sama Sheehan, 66, died peacefully at her home in Ashfield, MA, on April 18, 2013 after a four-year struggle with cancer.
A former Houstonian, Sheehan is best remembered in this city for her editorship of Houston Home & Garden, the first regional shelter publication to gain national recognition and acclaim. Houston Home & Garden Magazine published from 1977-1988, highlighted the best homes and gardens of the Bayou City, earning the respect and admiration of readers as well as the design community.
After her marriage to writer Laurence Sheehan in 1983, Carol became founding editor-in-chief of American Homestyle, a New York Times Publication. She is most recently remembered as editor-in-chief of Country Home, a position she held for 10 years.
In 2008 she retired from magazine publishing to take on a variety of book and magazine consultancies. With a team of like-minded journalists and a photographer, she co-authored a number of design and lifestyle titles for Clarkson Potter Publishing, including
The Sporting Life, A Passion for Hunting and Fishing (1992), Living with Dogs (1999), and most recently, The Birding Life (2011).
Carol was a graduate of Lamar High School and the University of Houston. Although she left Houston in the 1980s, she stayed in touch with many of her friends in the Houston area. She is survived by her husband Laurence Sheehan of Ashfield, MA, her mother Helen Sama of Houston, and her father Walter Sama of Boca Raton, FL, and her stepchildren and grandchildren.
A service will be held this summer at her home in Ashfield. Memorials may be sent to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute's Dr. Lawrence Shulman Breast Cancer Research Fund, 450 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215.