Robert E. Carroll Jr.

Robert Everett Carroll, Jr of West Hartford, CT and Chatham, MA, passed away peacefully on February 12, 2020 at age 95. Born in Yonkers, NY on June 6, 1924, he was the son of Robert Everett Carroll and Carolyn Crosby Carroll. He grew up in West Hartford, attended local schools, and graduated from Kingswood School in 1942. He entered Yale University that summer in the class of 1945W, where he joined the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps. After completing two academic years, in Feb 1944 he was commissioned an Ensign, left the university, and reported for active duty in the Naval Amphibious Forces. After a few weeks of training on Chesapeake Bay, at age 19, he became Executive Officer of USS LCI 689, a new vessel launched in Boston and assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific area of operations. They crossed the Pacific via the Panama Canal, Bora Bora, New Caledonia, the Admiralty Islands, New Guinea, and then to the Philippines. Over a span of seven months, his ship earned a Combat Action ribbon and a battle star on the Philippine Service ribbon for landing troops on a number of islands. During that time Bob became a Lieutenant (JG) commanding officer of the ship. After the Japanese surrender, his group was sent to Korea where they took up duty as pilot vessels for the 50 mile channel to the harbor at Inchon. They also crossed the Yellow Sea to the Chinese coast, and transported troops of the 1st Marine Division up the Ho River to Tientsin, the first U.S. occupation troops to land in China. His ship then returned to Korea and back to the United States completing a two year tour. Returning to Yale, he graduated in 1948 with a BS degree from the School of Engineering. In September of that year, Bob and Anne Carter Harrison of West Hartford were married. They moved to New Britain where he went to work at the Stanley Works. After 10 years in manufacturing and sales promotion he left for a short stay at Ingraham Co in Bristol, and then found an opportunity that lasted 27 years. He met Professor Vernon Krieble of Trinity College who together with his son Robert, had formed a company to manufacture and market a sealant material they had invented. Bob joined the fledgling company as manager of market development, and joined by a team of manufacturer’s representatives and dedicated sales engineers, set out to introduce a new concept in the assembly of metal parts. Now known as Loctite sealant, the product is widely accepted by industry and professionals. During 1973 and 1974 Bob worked out of Loctite’s European headquarters in the Netherlands, where he met and befriended a number of European colleagues. He and his wife and their son enjoyed the experience of living in Holland. Bob was active in the YMCA of greater Hartford, serving in various capacities including Chairman of the Board from 1980 to 1984. He also served as Chairman of the YMCA Eastern Region and as a director on the National Board of the YMCA of the USA from 1984 to 1992. He was a delegate to the YMCA World Council meeting in Denmark in 1985. He was a recipient of the Robert C. Knox YMCA Distinguished Leadership Award in 1996, and a member of the YMCA Old Guard. Bob also served on the board of the American School for the Deaf for many years, where he was President of the school from 1987 to 1990. In 1972 Bob and Anne bought a house on the waterfront in Chatham on Cape Cod where their family held many gatherings. They enjoyed having a second neighborhood with many “summer friends”. They joined Eastward Ho! Golf club in Chatham, and also Farmington Country Club in Connecticut. Physically active, Bob enjoyed skiing, golf, and tennis. He built a cabin in Vermont which became their base for New England skiing, while a daughter in the Colorado mountains took them out west. Bob and Anne also joined English and Dutch friends to ski in Austria, Switzerland, and the French Alps. Water sports included scuba diving in the Caribbean, and fishing off Cape Cod. Bob was predeceased by his younger brother Benjamin Crosby Carroll, by his wife Anne, with whom he shared a 68 year happy marriage, and by daughter Amy. He is survived by two children: Catherine and husband David Gray of Bedford MA, and Robert and wife Kathleen Carroll of Farmington CT, as well as son in law Lee Parker of Steamboat Springs, CO. Also surviving are seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren. The previously schedule memorial service has been postponed to a later date yet to be determined. Memorial donations may be made to the Hartford YMCA, or the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford. Taylor & Modeen Funeral Home, West Hartford has care of arrangements. For online condolences please visit www.taylorandmodeen.com.