Carol Ann Healy Obituary

Carol Ann (Deignan) Healy, 59, of Chepachet died peacefully on Monday, January 19th from Alzheimer's Disease. The youngest daughter of the late Edward J. and Eva C. (Desrochers) Deignan. She is survived by William E. Healy, her husband of 32 years, sister Jean Langlois (Edgar), brothers Dr. Edward J. Deignan Jr. (Diane), and James R. Deignan (his companion, Ann Bouchard), and niece Alexis Soloff (Eric).
Carol was a brilliant artist, sailor, chemist, gardener, world traveler, life of the party, and my best friend.
Her funeral and visitation will be held Saturday, January 24, 2015 at 9am from the TUCKER-QUINN Funeral Chapel, 643 Putnam Pike (Rt.44) Greenville, with a Mass of Christian Burial at 11am in St. Philips Church, 622 Putnam Pike, Greenville. Burial will be private.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the Alzheimer's Association, 245 Waterman St., Suite 306, Providence, RI 02906 in her name would be appreciated.

Carol grew up in Warwick, attending parochial elementary school and graduating from Pilgrim High School. She went on to receive her Bachelor of Science Degree in Botany from the University of Rhode Island.
Always an athlete, in her youth, she played tennis and golf at Warwick Country Club and was an accomplished skier. She sailed from an early age, occasionally on Herreschoff "S" Boats and anything with a stick and a sail. Carol and I sailed together for nearly 30 years on our "Appetizer" and she always had a steady hand on the helm. A friend out for a day sail with us remarked that she and I rarely had to tell the other when to trim a sail or ease off the wind. She was a natural.
Carol worked in the chemical industry most of her career and was one of the first two women ever to attain certification from The American Electroplaters' Society. When we met, she was the lab manager for a local plating company. One day, as she walked by my office, she stuck her head through the doorway and asked "Hey, do you like cheesecake?" Of course. Who Doesn't? The next day, she brought me a mammoth slab of the best cheesecake I had ever eaten. She said she didn't know what I'd like for topping so she brought, strawberries, blueberries, and pineapple. We eloped about a year later.
We traveled together to Ireland, France, Switzerland, and Italy, and she was lucky to visit Egypt, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. On a visit to a plating shop in Taiwan, her company's local representative was astonished that the shop manager knew Carol by name. They had met when he visited the U.S. And never forgot "the girl in the shop who knew all the answers."
Taking a break from the chemical industry, she studied to become a Certified Nursing Assistant and worked as a technician in a dialysis clinic for a year until getting up at 4 AM became too much.
Around the same time, she earned her 100 ton U.S. Coast Guard Captain's License.
She was appointed and served in the Town of Glocester on the Conservation Commission, Planning Board, and Historic District Commission.
Carol was a brilliant painter and could have easily made a living as a counterfeiter. Her eye for color, proportion, and composition was flawless. Her beautiful paintings are all over the house and on the walls of close friends and family.
Carol excelled at everything she attempted aided by her nearly photographic memory.
Her hearty laugh, infectious laugh, and sometimes bawdy sense of humor were well known to anyone who knew or met her. She wasn't afraid of anyone or anything. She often told men of greater stature "I could take you down." They all knew she was joking but never doubted her claim.
When Alzheimer's was diagnosed, four years ago, she was devastated and plunged into research for hours of every day on the internet. Luckily, she was admitted to a clinical trial of an investigational drug that slowed or nearly stopped her decline for a year until the study was canceled.
She knew there was no cure, but as she would have wanted, her brain tissue has been donated to Alzheimer's research centers at Brown University and the University of Arizona. Perhaps a tiny spark of information from Carol will lead to a treatment for others.
Above all, she was a wonderful and caring wife and my very best friend.
We will all miss her. Remember her smile and laugh. Speak of her often.