(Taylor) Grover, Carol Joyce

A BEAUTIFUL VOICE IS STILLED

Mrs. Carol Joyce (Taylor) Grover – age 83, of Wolfville, passed away on June 12, 2019, in the Valley Regional Hospital, Kentville, following a long battle with cancer. Born in Windsor, she was a daughter of Walter Allen Taylor and Ethel Audrey (Lawrence) Morton. Carol was sociable, full of laughter and an energetic fighter. Carol graduated from Edgehill School in 1953, Mount Allison University in 1956 and from Dalhousie University (B.Ed., 1957). At 18, she met Downey at the Digby Pines Hotel where they were both working for the summer. Four years later they married. Parenting became her main focus. Carol cared deeply about education, placing her children in the first French immersion program in Canada and ensuring that they all had musical training. Family ties mattered to her; every summer while her family lived in Toronto, there was a trip bringing her children back to the Valley which built loving relationships with cousins, aunts and uncles that have endured. Musically gifted, even as a child she performed at the Halifax Music Festival. Always in a choir, she sang alto under the baton of Seiji Ozawa in Toronto, then in the Halifax Chamber Choir under Paul Murray and finally under Bill Perrot in the Kings Chorale in the Annapolis Valley. Kings Chorale, to her delight, indulged her love of travel and musicals, taking her to sing at the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York. She and Downey were avid bridge players, becoming Life Masters in 1988. In later life, she shared Downey’s hobby, gardening, a passion expressed profusely in the gardens surrounding the much-loved house in Avonport. She was a loving mother to three daughters, Cynthia, Belgium; Hilary (Eric) Cubilier, Guadeloupe and Rachel, Halifax; two sons, Peter, Tennessee, USA and William, Scarborough, Ontario. She is also survived by sister, Marie (Taylor) Stuart, Hantsport; half-brother, Scott (Marianne) Morton, Bedford; grandchildren, Kerina (Kate), Cameron (Katie), Erika (Byron), Natalie and Audrey; great-grandchildren, Brandon, Silas and Norah. She was predeceased by her parents, her husband, Dr. Benjamin Downey Grover, an infant son, Downey Bruce, and her half-sister Thelma (Taylor) Smylie. Cremation has taken place and there will be no visitation, by request. The funeral service, followed by a reception, will be held at the White Family Funeral Home, Kentville at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, August 17, 2019. Burial will take place in the Falmouth Cemetery. Family flowers only, by request. Donations in memory of Carol may be made to the Valley Hospice Foundation in Kentville or to the Victorian Order of Nurses. The family wishes to thank the medical staff of the palliative care unit at the Valley Regional Hospital, in particular, Dr. Lori Burgess. We much appreciated the kindness of the VON and the unwavering care of Rachel Grover. Between them, they made it possible for Carol to live at home in comfort until the last two weeks of her life. Special thanks to LaVerne Porter and Jane Grover for their sustained bedside vigil. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to the White Family Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Kentville.