Sarah Carroll Herring

Sarah Carroll Herring
05-10-2023
On the morning of May 10, 2023, Sarah "Sally" Carroll Herring passed away peacefully. She was 82 years old.
Sally was born in Norwich, Connecticut on April 14, 1941. She was the eldest daughter of George Wyman Carroll, Jr. and Sarah Blaisdell Carroll. One of six children, she grew up in Norwich, where her family lived for generations. She was a true New Englander, who grew up in her family home built by her great-grandfather and spent summers at Camp Onaway in East Hebron, New Hampshire and at her family's compound in Penobscot Bay, Maine. She attended Westover School in Middlebury, Connecticut, during her teenage years and then graduated from Hollins University in Virginia. After graduation, she started a career as a researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. It was during this time when her twin brother, Lucius Carroll II, introduced her to his fraternity brother, Thomas Albert Herring of Springfield, Illinois. Sally and Tom dated for a year before they got married. Sally and Tom followed Tom's career as an international banker, where they lived in London, Madrid, New York City, Memphis, Tennessee, Montreal, Canada and Connecticut.
In Memphis, Sally had her first child, Thomas Pendleton "Pen" Herring. After moving to Montreal, Sally had her second child, Charles Carroll Herring, in Norwich, Connecticut. After the birth of Charles, Sally and Tom decided to move back to the United States and settled in Darien, Connecticut, where they raised their children through high school.
In mid-life, she started a new career as a church secretary at Christ Episcopal Church in Greenwich, Connecticut. Sally gave her life to Christ Church and the congregation and community reciprocated by providing her with the spiritual and family community that was the foundation of her magnificent life.
Sally was so dedicated to her faith and community that in her later years she became an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church. The idea of giving back and helping others was a guiding force for her life. She was a true servant of her community. After being ordained, she started her outreach with a new opportunity at The Nathaniel Witherell in Greenwich, where she could work with seniors to provide the finest care and support that everyone is entitled to in their golden years.
After retirement and a few health problems, she moved from Connecticut to Newport Beach, California, to live with her son, Pen, and his wife, Wendy. For the next decade, she thrived in the Southern California sunshine, where she continued to provide peace and happiness to everyone that she came across. She joined St. James Episcopal Church in Newport Beach and helped the church with their weekly services.
Sally had a great team of caregivers and extended family in Southern California that helped her flourish through her later years. Wendy became Sally's full-time caregiver, and their relationship thrived as a mother and daughter that she always wanted and finally got. Virginia Mock was her other adopted daughter who provided love, comfort and daily support. Wendy's dad, Jim, and his loving partner, Sharon, assisted Sally in so many ways that there are too many to list. Wendy's mom, Darlene, and brother, Todd, made sure she kept on her spiritual path. Not to be outdone by all the local care, Sally's niece, Alex Escher, always stayed in touch from the East Coast and made sure we were all properly taking care of Auntie Sally. She would visit a few times a year, to make sure Sally was keeping up her promise to bring a little bit of New England to Southern California, while enjoying a brisk dip in the Pacific Ocean.
Sally was a true light from heaven. She put everyone else's needs before her own and did not think twice about it. While this is a tragic loss for her family, friends, church and everyone that met her, we are comforted in knowing that she loved her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; who she knew died for her sins so that she could be saved, to live all eternity worshiping God our Father, singing Holy, Holy, Holy with the angels rejoicing her coming home. We know that she is celebrating her brilliant life with her parents, siblings, family and friends and beloved dogs in heaven.
Sally is survived by loving family and friends. Her children, Pen Herring and his wife Wendy Herring of Newport Beach, California and Charles Carroll Herring of Litchfield, Connecticut. Her brother Adams Pope Carroll and his wife Janet Wu of Boston, MA. She also had many cousins, nieces, and nephews and extended family who truly adored her. Along with her parents and husband, Sally's brother, George Wyman Carroll III, Lucius Wyman Carroll, II, Ira Greene Briggs Carroll, Sr., and sister, Marie-Louise Carroll Escher, preceded her in death.
She will be buried at Christ Church Greenwich. In lieu of flowers, please make any donations in her name to St. James Episcopal Church in Newport Beach, CA.