Carol D. Campbell

1937-2025

SOUTH PORTLAND--Carol, 87, passed away at home from complications with Parkinson's.  She valiantly battled this disease for the past 20 years.  Carol was born in Portland to William E. and Vivian G. Darling (nee Watts) on October 17, 1937.  She is predeceased by her parents, her brother William (Bill) Darling, and her husband Daniel Campbell.  She is survived by her sister Lorna Kierstead, and her nephews Ian Dawson (Courtney Dawson) and Bill Darling Dawson (Caitlin Jones).  She attended South Portland schools and graduated from SPHS in 1956.  She immediately entered the business world working in the mortgage/loan department of Union Mutual (now UNUM).

As she advanced in her career, she moved to the Hartford, Connecticut area and worked at Phoenix Mutual, Aetna Business & Credit, and Aetna Life.  In her spare time, she sold real estate for Aruba Realty in Connecticut and still visited South Portland regularly.  She was able to retire at 48 successfully from the mortgage business in Connecticut.  She returned to her beloved home town of South Portland, where she and her brother Bill invested in Ferry Village properties.  After the tragic death of Bill, she continued on rehabilitating the properties herself.

Through her property rehab and construction projects, she met her loving husband, Daniel Campbell.  They were married at St. Patrick's Church on April 22, 1987.  Her accounting and banking skills helped Dan with the bookkeeping and scheduling aspects of his plumbing business.  Daniel passed away in 2005, but Carol spoke of him often.  They were truly work and soul mates.

One of the humblest acts of Carol's life was her devotion to her family.  As a young woman, she acted as the sternman for her father, working with him on his lobster boat, where she gained a love for fishing and the sea.  When her siblings, Bill Jr. and Lorna were born, their mother was bedridden and crippled with rheumatoid arthritis.  Carol selflessly cared for them from infancy through the rest of their lives.  This continued with the joyous arrival of her beloved nephews, Ian and Bill III. Carol was a constant presence in their lives, giving them advice and support, and gracing the Sunday morning breakfast table with her razor-sharp wit and even sharper recollections.  As she aged, her sister Lorna took care of her, returning the kindness and devotion that Carol had always shown.  Carol was also lovingly adopted as an auntie by Madeline Richards, Keagan Lutz, Ella Brennan, and Betty Hobbs.  Throughout her life, she doted on all of her cats, especially Ingemar, Melanie, Erik, and Geoffrey.  She was pleasantly surprised to become a dog person with the family additions of Salem, Sparrow, Dill, and Porter.

Carol loved to write letters and correspond with friends all over the world.  She had dear friends in Norway, Germany, and Great Britain.  This enabled her to travel to their homes and in turn, they visited her in the United States.  She spent three wonderful months in Norway with the family of Arrvid Larsen, a friend since she was 16 years old, and recalled the memories of her time there fondly.  She was a member of the United Peoples' Methodist Church.

As an avid genealogist, she was proud of her Scottish heritage on her maternal side.  She was the direct descendant of the Uptons.  One ancestor survived the 1650 Battle of Dunbar in Scotland and subsequent imprisonment in an English jail, and deportation as an indentured servant to the Saugus Ironworks of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  Later, David Upton "Answered the call" at Lexington, Mass, marching from Reading, Mass on April 19, 1775.  After the skirmish at Lexington, David Upton was at the battle of Bunker Hill and at General Joseph Warren's side as he fell to the British attack.  In his 80s and ill of health, he was rowed out from Chebeague Island to a clipper ship moored in the harbor to register for his Revolutionary War pension.  Carol was frustrated that she was unable to authenticate if he had lived long enough to collect it.

She was equally proud of her paternal heritage, as a descendant of Benjamin Darling. He was one of the first free black men to buy and own property in New England.  She ardently supported the fight for recognition of her DNA relatives on Malaga Island.  She was also a direct descendant of one of the Samaritan Ladies, who in 1874 saved the Mount Pleasant cemetery from overgrowth and disarray.  As a trustee of the cemetery, she continued this honored position by dedicating a Samaritan Garden to honor them.

Her contributions to the South Portland Historical Society were an endless joy to her.  Some of them included donating her grandmother Etta Gregory Watts' extensive photo collection of Ferry Village, answering questions or clarifying information, and making a map of Ferry Village buildings.

She ferried to Chebeague Island many times to visit David Upton's grave and to meet with fellow Chebeague historians.  Her memory for people and places was exceptional.  She was exceptional.

A celebration of life and reception will be held on Sunday, April 27, 2025, from 2pm-5pm at Elizabeth Hobbs Hospitality Center, Hobbs Funeral Home, 230 Cottage Road, South Portland.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to South Portland Historical Society, 55 Bug Light Park, South Portland, ME (207-767-7299) or to American Parkinson's Disease Association, PO Box 61420, Staten Island, NY, or call 1-800-223-2732.