It is with great sorrow that we share the passing of Carol Ann (Barry) Kalish on 25 December 2024, at the age of 89, in Raleigh, North Carolina, after a recent diagnosis of cancer.
The daughter of Raymond E. Barry and Myrajane Evans Barry, Carol was born in Jackson (Madisson County), Tennessee, and grew up, the eldest of three, in Vicksburg, Mississippi. In the tradition of her parents’ Masonic involvement, she was a member of the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls. She was a graduate of Carr Central High School where she played cornet and trumpet in the band.
Carol attended Antioch College in Yellowsprings, Ohio, where she developed her progressive values of fairness, equality, and striving to win “some victory for humanity.” She completed the institution’s work-based co-op education program, including internships in Chicago and, for Mademoiselle magazine, New York City, and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics.
After college Carol moved to Washington, DC, which she thereafter considered to be her adopted hometown, and where she participated in the 1963 March on Washington, where Rev. Dr. King, Jr., gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. In Washington, she married James (Jim) A. Kalish, whom she met at Antioch, and raised two sons. She bought a home just outside the city in the Village of Chevy Chase, and after retiring, eventually moved to Durham, North Carolina, closer to her grandchildren.
In Washington, Carol began her decades-long professional career working for the Federal Government. This included work for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, where as Staff Economist she took great pride in authoring and directing a 1969 report, “For ALL the people… By ALL the people.” She went on to work as a statisician and analyst for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, where she spent most of her employment, designing and analyzing studies of the U.S. system of law enforcement, criminology, and incarceration.
In the early 1960s, her husband’s work for the State Department took them for a while to South America, where they lived in Paramaribo, Suriname (formerly Dutch Guiana), and afforded them the opportunities to travel by boat down the Amazon in Brazil, and ascend the Andes to visit Machu Picchu in Peru. After returning to Washington, they later moved for Jim’s administrative Peace Corps work to West Africa with their two boys, living in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Travel became a treasured activity for Carol though out her life, including visits to the Netherlands, England, Spain, Italy, two trips to China, a work trip to South Korea, and excursions to Indian reservations in the U.S. Southwest. Her home displayed many art pieces reflecting her cultural interests, an aesthetic she jokingly called “third-world eclectic”. Her dream of visiting Paris was finally achieved at the age of 76 on a trip with her sons and youngest granddaughter.
Carol was an avid reader her whole life, consuming volumes of literature, classics, poetry, histories, Agatha Christie and other mysteries, memoirs and novels. She had a driving intellectual curiosity and was a devoted listener and supporter of National Public Radio, news, human interest stories and shows. She adored classical music, attending many seasons of opera at the Kennedy Center, as well as folk music and musical theater. Friends and family knew she was always ready for a sing-along.
Carol was predeceased by her beloved brother Lynn Warner Barry, and her former husband, James Kalish. She is lovingly remembered by her sons, Josh Kalish and Seth Kalish, and by her brother Carl Barry, his wife Beth, and their children Jason and Erin. She was a proud “Layla” to her three grandchildren: Emma, Graham, and Mia.
A Celebration of Life gathering for family and friends will take place Saturday, 11 January 2025, 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm, after which the family will be convening privately. Location: La Ferme (a favorite restaurant of Carol’s), 7101 Brookville Rd, Chevy Chase, MD.
For more information, contact sethevan@yahoo.com.
In honor of Carol’s memory and her dedication to a better world, the family requests that in lieu of flowers an act of kindness and community support, as suits your own means, be made in her name.
