Carol Kenealy

Carol Kenealy, aged 93 years, passed away on October 25, 2025 at home with her family in Lexington, MA. She lived a rich life, and was the center of a large, happy, multi-generational family. For decades, she hosted memorable gatherings at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, and though all the years found ways to connect with friends and relatives one-on-one, in unique and inspiring ways.
Carol was a passionate and well-loved teacher, a lifelong scholar and Francophile, and a world traveler. She was a foodie and French chef before those interests became widespread. She was modest about her many accomplishments, and always put the needs of others above her own. She shared her enthusiasms with the people she loved and offered wise counsel when asked.

Born in 1932 in New York City to William Barry and Mary Kelly, Carol grew up in Arlington, MA as the oldest of six children. She earned a BA in English from Tufts University (1954), a Diplome de Civilisation Francaise from the Universite de Paris La Sorbonne (1956), and an MA in French Literature from Columbia University (1960). Between terms in those years, Carol was a bilingual airline stewardess on Asian and European travel routes. In one month in the 1950s, she traveled to Paris, Dublin, Barcelona, Wake Island and Tokyo! Until she was 60, Carol took post-graduate courses in Spanish, Latin, Italian, and English as a Second Language at Harvard, Brandeis, Tufts, Boston University and Emmanuel College. She never stopped learning.

At age 23, Carol began a 50-year language teaching career. She taught in the New York Public schools (PS 130, JHS 81), then in Billerica, Salem, and Ipswich MA, before moving to Lexington MA, where she taught elementary and junior high school French, Latin, and Spanish for 31 years. For Carol teaching was a calling, as much as a profession. She loved teaching and was always proud of her students' and colleagues' success. She won numerous awards for teaching high achieving students and for mentoring other teachers, and was active in professional language teaching associations. She was perhaps most proud of co-founding and running Lexington's foreign exchange program between schools in Lexington and Antony France that showed hundreds of kids how foreign languages can create cultural understanding and lasting friendships.

Following her retirement from the Lexington Public Schools in 1997, Carol taught English to Japanese college students at Showa Boston University for a further six years, formally retiring in 2005.

Though they grew up in the same town, Carol and her husband, Bill, met each other at Columbia University in 1956. They were married for 66 years. They raised three children and helped raise ten grandchildren, logging tens of thousands of miles to show their kids the world and to be present in the lives of grandchildren around the world.

When Carol and Bill were both teachers, they spent summers sailing the New England Coast, reaching as far north as Nova Scotia and south to Bermuda. Carol was a committed sailor even though she couldn't swim. Her cruises revolved around family and friends -- and lobster rolls. Later, when Bill was an officer in the Merchant Marine, Carol occasionally sailed with him, voyaging through the Panama Canal and throughout the Pacific. In her later retirement, Carol and Bill spent half of most years in Townsend MA, on a family farm dating from the 1920s.

Though she lived mostly near Boston and roamed the world, Carol was a lifelong New Yorker, visiting the city once or twice a year throughout her life, inspiring her children and grandchildren with her love of food theater and the arts – especially musical theater and impressionist painting.

Carol leaves her husband Bill, her children Kate (John), Daniel (Beth), and Patrick (Tracy); her grandchildren, Molly, Laura, Peter, Mary, Daniel, Caroline, Matthew, Audrey and Kathryn; and her brother Bill, sisters-in-law Judy and Carol as well as many nieces, nephews and friends. She was predeceased by her siblings, Daniel, Donald, John, and Mary, and her grandson, Brian. Per her wishes, in lieu of a traditional funeral, a celebration of Carol's life will be held in the summer of 2026.

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