Carolyn Palmer Trail

Carolyn Palmer Trail, age 88, passed away on Monday, May 4, after a long battle with metastatic cancer. She was born to Denzel and Lake Erie Palmer on August 4, 1937, and raised in Beckley, West Virginia. Over the years, she was a resident of Norwood, Huntersville and Wake Forest, North Carolina.

Carolyn completed primary school in Beckley, followed by nursing school at Jefferson Hospital School of Nursing in Roanoke, Virginia. She completed her internship at Chestnut Lodge Psychiatric Hospital in Rockville, Maryland. She also attended Pfeiffer College and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte for further study in art, English, and for additional certifications in nursing. She served at hospitals in Morgantown, West Virginia, and in Albemarle, North Carolina. She was licensed to teach nursing courses for Stanly County Community College.

Her enduring interests were in the arts. She had a passion for learning and teaching basket weaving, Belgian bobbin lace, and various forms of fiber arts and stitchery. She was a long-time member of several lace and stitchery groups in Concord, Huntersville, and in Raleigh. Many of her closest friends were the people she met through her arts.

Carolyn lived a brilliant life. She was an exuberant and generous friend to all who knew her. She loved teaching, creating, traveling, parties, and being in the mountains.

Carolyn was married to Dr. Julian S. Trail for 41 years. She was a devoted mother to her three children, Julian Trail Jr. (Wil) of Bethesda, Maryland, Mark Trail (Lorri) of Wake Forest, and Karen Trail Martin of Charlotte. She was a proud grandmother to her three grandsons, Robert and Harris Trail, and Andrew Martin. Carolyn is also survived by her beloved niece, Robin Jarrett of Dallas, Texas. She cherished every minute of the family time they shared. She is preceded in death by her parents and her sister Barbara Jarrett.

The family would like to acknowledge the heroic efforts of her primary caregivers, Bernadette Pickles and Erica Griffin, who supported her through the last ten months of her life.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Raleigh Lace Museum(www.ksclcfoundation.org/museum-IX.php).

A Celebration of Life party for family and friends will be arranged at a forthcoming date.

Arrangements by Clancy Strickland Wheeler Funeral Home and Cremation Service, 1051 Durham Road, Wake Forest, NC 27587. (919-556-7400)

www.cswfuneralhome.com