James Phillips Carow, Sr.

James “Jim” Phillips Carow Sr., 88, passed away at home on Mon., Nov. 29, due to complications from a stroke. Born March 5, 1933, in Michigan City, Indiana, he left the hospital with his parents during FDR’s historic Bank Holiday.

Jim graduated from George Washington High School in Arlington, Virginia, and attended Georgetown and Northwestern Universities, belonging to Delta Sigma Pi fraternity. He left college to serve his country in the U.S. Army as a Specialist Second Class and was chosen for the prestigious U.S. Army Language School, now the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC), ultimately translating both French and Vietnamese during the Korean War. In his final days, he still occasionally spoke in French and jokingly requested “two beers, please” in Vietnamese.

He met his wife, Mollie Moran Carow, formerly of Atlanta, Ga., in the early 1960s at Barat College in Lake Forest, Ill. Married in 1963, they resided in Evanston, Highland Park, and then Lake Bluff, Ill., where they raised their five children. He was a tireless provider, beginning his career as a stockbroker at H. Hentz and Co. and later joining Mesirow Financial Services, where he was a securities trader for two decades. Jim took the Metra Northwestern train to the Chicago Loop daily, expertly working Chicago Tribune crossword puzzles while he rode, then walking to his office no matter the weather.

In 1994, Jim and his family moved to Athens, Georgia, where he served the community as an independent insurance agent, specializing in life and health for 24 years and retiring only at age 87. Building personal connections with his clients was natural and joyful for him. He was a 26-year member of the Catholic Center at the University of Georgia, sharing his pitch-perfect tenor voice with the Sunday morning choir. He kept a hymnal at home and often was overheard singing with his grandchildren in the living room.

A lover of nature and master gardener who could make gardenias, fig trees, and roses thrive, he also adored and nurtured neighborhood wildlife, especially birds. Jim would open the back door to a regular queue of squirrels waiting for a snack, or to a trio of deer drinking from a bird bath he kept clean and filled for them. They, and the red cardinals he favored, were frequent visitors outside the windows where he spent his final days. He had a wry wit, and in all his years never stopped cracking jokes. He was a dog whisperer, a meticulous home improvement enthusiast before DIY existed, a card shark who could play a stiff game of poker, a skilled woodworker who made his children dollhouses and sandboxes, and a talented oil painter as just a teen. He excelled at, and gave his all, to everything he undertook.

James was preceded in death by his father, Louis John Carow Jr., mother, Lillian Kieffer Carow, and son Matthew Patrick Carow. Surviving, in addition to his wife, Mollie, are his children Cathy Carow and granddaughter Sophia Seiller; Jim (Jean) Carow, Jr., and grandchildren Owen, Natalie, and Kyle; Colleen Carow and grandchildren Emmett, Brantley, and Madeline; and Rachel (Redd) Gauna and grandchildren Mollie and Jacob Osborne.

A funeral mass will be held at the Catholic Center at UGA on Thurs., Dec. 2, at 2 p.m., with a private family burial including military honors on Fri., Dec. 3, at 1 p.m. at Westview Cemetery in Atlanta. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the Catholic Center at UGA’s Liturgical Ministry Fund directly through the church or at https://atlanta.igivecatholic.org/organizations/ccatuga.

Lord & Stephens Funeral Home, EAST, Athens is entrusted with arrangements. www.lordandstephens.com.