August 8, 1924 – December 21, 2019
Born in Long Beach, California, Carolyn Giraud Crockett Bell, known to her closest friends as “Sis”, a member of The Greatest Generation, was a Mayflower descendant whose ancestors built this country through trials and suffering, war, courage, determination and hard work. She was a true blue blood, the 22nd Great-Granddaughter of King Edward I of England and his wife Eleanor of Castile. Her European ancestors are a stellar list of a thousand years of Royal history.
Raised in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles, Carolyn attended St. Gregory’s School and was a graduate of Marymount High School.
From 1948 to1949, Carolyn surfed and swam with the Kahanamoku brothers, Sargent, David and even the ‘Duke’ himself while living in Honolulu and tanning on the beach at The Royal Hawaiian.
She was married at the Santa Barbara Mission on October 1st, 1949 and on March 2, 1955, with two young sons in tow she boarded a TWA Constellation in New York, bound for Paris, to begin a year long French adventure of living in Bordeaux and exploring the Continent.
Carolyn could only be described as an individual of strikingly, classic beauty. Often photographed and many times mistaken for a Hollywood’s Golden Age star, she was the epitome of elegance and grace, possessing an almost eternal youth.
If anything, Carolyn was an animal lover and even had a pet skunk as a young girl while growing up in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles. Whether it be a skunk, dog, snake, bird, lizard, chipmunk, cat or spider, she loved them all. Her rather large dog, Chipper, was an animal so uncontrollable it could only be described as jumping right from the pages of Jack London’s “The Call of the Wild”. For many years, Carolyn was the custodian of what was thought to be the largest California Desert Tortoise in captivity, ‘Goliath’, whom she named ‘Tortuga’.
Carolyn was an alumna member of the Art Museum Council (LACMA), and the Mannequins of the Assistance League of Los Angeles. She was also a member of the Lobero Associates, Santa Barbara.
She was a faithful Catholic attending mass each week at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Montecito, CA where she served for many years as a Eucharistic Minister until retiring in her late eighties.
Carolyn is predeceased by her parents Virginia Wilkinson Giraud and John Golden Crockett, along with her sister Constance Eugenie Reese. She leaves behind her five sons Ainslie McLain Bell (Darlene), Martin Anthony Bell (Gina), Scott Giraud Bell (Kristina), Gary Christopher Bell (Tracey), and Michael Nicholas Bell (Lorie) and beloved grandchildren, great-grand children, nieces and nephew.
A funeral service will be held on Saturday, January 11, 2020, at 11:00AM at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, 1300 East Valley Road, Montecito, CA 93108.
In lieu of flowers, donations would be appreciated to www.care4paws.org
