Nancy Carroll

Nancy Carroll of Winnetka, IL died on April 2, 2024 at Covenant Living, a retirement community in Northbrook, IL.  Nancy was born in Chicago on September 30, 1928, to Laura Nowak and William Dodge Kerr, and was raised in the Beverly Hills neighborhood of Chicago.  She attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, received her undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago in 1948, and then attended the School of the Art Institute.  

She married Daniel T. Carroll in 1950.  After residing for a few years in Arlington, VA, they moved back to the Chicago area, settling first in Clarendon Hills and then in Hinsdale.  While raising her young family, Nancy worked as a children’s book illustrator.  In 1963, prompted by her husband’s job transfer, Nancy and her family moved to Gates Mills, Ohio.  While there, Nancy attended the Cleveland Institute of Art, receiving a diploma in 1968.  The family moved back to the Chicago area in 1968, settling in Winnetka.  Nancy remained a Winnetka resident until her move to Covenant Living Northbrook in 2007.  

Nancy was active in the North Shore Art League and the Winnetka Interfaith Council for many years.  She was a member of the Church of the Holy Comforter in Kenilworth, serving on the Altar Guild and as a lay reader, and of Winnetka Covenant Church, where she was a deacon and had a dedicated greeting card ministry.  Nancy was a vice president of the Executive Board of NCLCI, National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel.  In 1983, Nancy was given the Community Service Award in the Field of Jewish-Christian Relations by Women’s American ORT, Chicago Region.  In 2002, the 13th District of the Cook County Commission on Women’s Issues gave her its annual Unsung Heroine Award for Volunteerism. 

Nancy was a travel consultant for over 20 years, specializing in pilgrimage tours to the Holy Land and international group travel.  She later worked as the administrative assistant for the Intercountry Adoption Program at Family Resource Center in Chicago. 

Survivors include her children, Laura, Lisa, Daniel (Lan Dai), and Grant (Natalie), and nine grandchildren, Louisa, Annalin and James; Madeline and Gaelen; Daniel and Viola; and Sebastien and Braeden. Other survivors include her sister Gwyneth K. Erwin and many nieces and nephews and their families.  Nancy was predeceased by her parents, her former husband, her sister Jacqueline Kerr Dye, and her brother, William D. Kerr, Jr. 

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, June 29, at 3 p.m. at the Church of the Holy Comforter, 222 Kenilworth Avenue, Kenilworth, IL.

Arrangements entrusted to Chicagoland Cremation Options in Schiller Park, Illinois.