Carol M. Hiers

Carol M. Hiers

CHELMSFORD, MA/SALEM, NH -- Carol M. Hiers died peacefully at the age of 87, after a brief illness, surrounded by her family.

Carol Antoinette Murrell grew up in Rockledge, FL, the daughter of Robert and Aldis (Helms) Murrell. She graduated from Florida State University, and taught school before going to work in the tech library at Patrick AFB. There she met Kenneth G. Hiers, a former Coast Guard Chief Radioman then working in the nascent aerospace industry at Cape Canaveral. They were married in 1953 and raised three daughters. At this time, she was active in AAUW (Am Assn of University Women), volunteered in the public library, and was a substitute teacher in the Cocoa Beach schools.

The family moved to Chelmsford MA in 1968, and soon after Ken founded Middlesex Rental Center, a tool and party rental service that he, Carol, and later their daughters managed for 33 years. At this time, she loved playing the piano, singing in the church choir, adding to her perennial garden and planning their annual European vacations.

In later years, her reduced mobility left her to concentrate on her other lifelong interests: reading, genealogy, duplicate bridge and crosswords. After 62 years of devoted marriage, she was deeply affected by Ken's death last November, and had embarked on a new life in Salem, NH when her own illness struck.

She is sorely missed by her daughters, Marsha Antoinette of Eastham, Nancy (and David) Smith of Cambridge, and Mary (and Luis) Carrillo of North Andover, and her loving grandchildren, Sera, Nathan and Rebecca Ford.

She was predeceased by her brother, Alan W. Murrell, and leaves two nieces, Linda and Michelle Murrell of Florida.

Please join us for a memorial service at West Chelmsford United Methodist Church, 242 Main St., Chelmsford at 11 AM on Saturday, May 30.