WILMINGTON — The life of the party has left us.
Stephanie Carr (born August 28, 1942) succumbed to kidney failure on January 28, 8 years after receiving a kidney generously donated by her friend, Kirstin Behn.
She lived a full life in those 79 years! After a childhood in suburban Chicago, she went off to Carlton College, transferred to Northwestern University where she graduated with a B.A. in English Literature. Not long after she enrolled at Temple University where she earned her M.Ed. in Multi-cultural Inner City Education. She brought the skills learned back to Chicago where she taught underprivileged children who attended Jenner School in the infamous Cabrini Green housing project (home of the TV series Good Times).
After 10 years of serving the community, Stephanie headed to charming Galena, Illinois (home of Ulysses S. Grant who famously said, “Don’t change a thing until I return” which he never did). She opened That Special Touch, a needlework and gift shop. Then on to New Braunfels, TX where she opened The Country Peddler. She landed in Wilmington in 1987 when she did not waste any time in opening her final retail establishment, the Olde Wilmington Toy Company in the Cotton Exchange. After 15 years of supplying happiness to a generation of children and their parents, she closed the door to the business in 2002.
She was also a CLL (certified laugh therapist), a method of healing popularized by Robin William’s touching movie, Patch Adams, a medical doctor who helped cure his patients with laughter
Her voice was familiar to many as she hosted Swap Shop on WAAV radio for years. When the show was cancelled, the program director of the station wrote, “…And you can’t think of Stephanie without remembering her signature laugh. It is a laugh that lit up not only the air waves of WAAV radio but also could be heard reverberating throughout ‘cubicle city’ and beyond.” It was through this job that she found Daisy, her beloved standard poodle, Daisy. One day a listener called in to say that he had puppies that needed homes. Stephanie went out to meet them and fell in love. She came home with two, her beloved Daisy and Daisy’s brother who she sent up to her sister in Chicago. Fourteen years later Daisy passed away, last year, right before Stephanie’s birthday.
Stephanie and Daisy are now together. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 19 at 3:30pm at Windermere Presbyterian Church, 104 Windemere Road.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in her honor can be made to:
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 199 Water St, New York, NY 10038 (mention Out of the Darkness Community Walk, Wilmington, NC on your check) or online; https://supporting.afsp.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donate.event&eventID=1
or to the American Red Cross, 431 18th St NW, Washington, DC 20006 (ask that funds be directed to Cape Fear, NC Chapter) or online; https://www.redcross.org/donate/disaster-relief.html/?cid=generic&med=cpc&source=google&scode=RSG00000E017&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqqrvqqf19QIVqBXUAR3N6wUnEAAYASABEgL1QvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
