Sally Carson

SALLY VICTORIA CARSON, 74, of Cary, NC, died on April 23, 2025, of lung and heart failure, at Duke Regional Hospital, Durham, NC, peacefully, with family by her side.
She was born on July 13, 1950 in Springfield, Massachusetts to Earla Rowley Carson and Parker Cooke Carson.
She was predeceased by her sister, Pamela Carson of Ithaca, N.Y., in 2000, who died of stomach cancer.
She is survived by her older sister, Gail Susan Carson; her niece, Victoria Louise Grice (wife, Lynne A. Tyeryar); and their daughter, Sally's grandneice, Miriam Elizabeth Grice, 7, all of Durham, N.C.
Also survived by her nephew, Ram Saran Thapa, wife Niruja Thakuri and their three children, Rumina, Roman and Rohan in Cary, NC; and her nephew, Jitendra Thapa (wife Sabila Rana and their son Jayash Thapa, 6 in Raleigh, NC); her cousins Michael Coyle and Anne Seiler of Chico, California.
Survived also by her First Cousin Dorothy Nell Carson Stanford of Turkey, Texas, Sally's namesake Sally Stanford, and First Cousin Cynthia Carson Duchatschek, (husband Leon) of Festus, Illinois and their sons Carson and Mason.
Sally Carson's helper, aide, landlady, chauffeur and dedicated caretaker, Laura Goddard, of Raleigh, N.C, also survives her. The family is very grateful to Laura, who helped Sally through all her serious decline in recent years, with laundry, t meals, chauffeuring.
Sally Carson, who grew up in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, had a stellar academic career and graduated with honors from Swarthmore College, undergrad, and masters degrees with honors in international banking and foreign languages, with Master'degrees, 'cum Laude,' from Harvard and Columbia universities.
She became an international banker, worked in many countries and spoke several foreign languages, traveled widely.
She was a talented gymnast, who made it as far as Team USA Olympic trials, on the Uneven Parellel Bars, representing Massachusetts, when she was 19.
She is the great, great, great granddaughter of Merriam Webster founder, Charles Merriam, of the the dictionary company. In the 1840s in Brookfield, Massachusetts, Charles Merriam purchased the rights from Noah Webster of Yale University.
Sally loved dogs, beyond measure, especially "Midnight," her beloved Black Lab, RIP.
We thank friend Ruth Pardue at Pullen Church, who brought her sweet service dog, Genie, to visit Sally a few days before Sally's death......a great comfort and joy to Sally. The family is grateful.
Sally's memorial service will be held at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, 1801 Hillsborough St. in Raleigh, N 27605, on Saturday, May 24 at 2 p.m, with Reverends Nancy Petty, Chalice Overy and Robert K Kaynor will paticipate. The memorial service will be live-streamed, and also stay available anytime after that.
Photographic display and Refreshments following in Finilator Hall at the church, immediately following the Memorial Service.
Donations can be made In Memorium for Sally, to the American Heart Association, or to any dog shelter/Rescue Dog organization or to Educate the Children (ETC) in Ithaca, New York, founded, 1990, by her late sister Pamela Carson to educate indigent children in Nepal. There is no public school system. Sally went to Nepal several times to support Educate the Children.
Sally has donated her body to medical research at University of North Carolina. She worked at UNC and lived in Chapel Hill for many years, recruiting minority students for medical careers as physicians, in the precursor to DEI programs of today.