Carol Victoria Dell
Carol Victoria Dell, 71, died June 10 at her home after a long illness.
She was born April 16, 1946 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. Her family emigrated to South Africa in 1947. Carol attended Redhill School in Johannesburg, then worked briefly at a diamond mine before her family moved to Santa Barbara in 1965. In Santa Barbara, she worked at the News-Press; the criminalistics division of the Sheriff’s Office; the law firm of Schweitzer, Dorrance & Associates; and the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment Program with Santa Barbara County Schools. She retired in 2008. Her parents, L. John Fry and Joan Fry, were active with the Santa Barbara Lawn Bowls Club. L. John Fry was a self taught engineer, inventor and author, and Joan Fry was office manager of Direct Relief Foundation in the 1970s.
Carol and John Dell were married on Valentine’s Day, 1968. Carol loved flowers, and planted many rosebushes and other flora in her garden on the upper Westside. The couple, and later entire family, traveled widely, enjoying gardens, old friends, and extended family.
Survivors include her husband, John Dell; two sons, Graham Dell of Santa Barbara and Peter Dell, M.D., of Culver City; three grandsons, Evan, Travis and Zack Dell, all of Santa Barbara; two sisters, Wendy Gallagher of California Valley, and Merle Fry of Los Osos; a nephew, John Gallagher of Portland, Oregon, currently in Kenya; two nieces, Leanne Gallagher Hawthorne of Santa Barbara, and Cheryl Mendibles of Los Osos; three great-nieces, Heather and Katy Hawthorne, both of Santa Barbara, and Lucy Gallagher; and four great-nephews, Raymond Hawthorne of Santa Barbara, Lamar Cordes Mendibles of Los Osos; Max Gallagher and Damien Daugherty of Portland, Oregon, along with French, English, and American cousins. Carol is also survived by her two Siberian Huskies, Isis and Zia, who miss her comforting touch and late-night snacks.
A private memorial celebration is scheduled June 30, which would have been Carol’s father’s 100th birthday.
In lieu of flowers, friends may remember VNA/Hospice Care, 512 E. Gutierrez St., SB 93103.