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Roger Carroll Jr. Remembered as a 'Real Neighborhood Guy'

By Howard Ludwig | January 8, 2016 7:00am
 Roger Carroll Jr., 80, of West Beverly died on Tuesday after a battle with lung cancer. His daughter said he will be remembered for his friendly smile and uncanny ability to make friends.
Roger Carroll Jr., 80, of West Beverly died on Tuesday after a battle with lung cancer. His daughter said he will be remembered for his friendly smile and uncanny ability to make friends.
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MORGAN PARK — One of Roger Carroll Jr.'s favorite things to do was go out to breakfast and quietly pay a stranger's tab. He referred to the practice as "paying it forward," said his daughter, Colleen Carroll.

"Once you met him, you just really liked him," Colleen Carroll said Thursday. The middle child of Roger Carroll's five children, Colleen Carroll shared her West Beverly home with her father in his final years.

Roger Carroll Jr., 80, died Tuesday after batting lung cancer. Visitation will be from 3-9 p.m. Friday at Blake-Lamb Funeral Home, 4727 W. 103rd St. in suburban Oak Lawn. A funeral Mass will be said at noon on Saturday at St. Cajetan Church, 2445 W. 112th St. in Morgan Park.

Carroll raised his family three blocks from St. Cajetan. He was a longtime precinct captain in the 19th Ward and also worked as a superintendent with the Cook County Forest Preserves. His duties included maintaining the Dan Ryan Woods in North Beverly, said Ald. Matt O'Shea (19th).

"There will never, ever be another Roger Carroll," O'Shea said. "He was just a prince of a man."

O'Shea worked closely with Carroll when organizing Hollieday, a fundraiser for Misericordia Home that drew upward of 700 people annually to the Dan Ryan Woods. Carroll did his part to make sure the event was successful and always did so with a keen sense of humor.

"If he walked in the room, everybody was laughing," O'Shea said.

Rich Fitzgerald of Morgan Park new Roger Carroll from a time when Carroll briefly sold real estate. The proprietor of Fitzgerald Real Estate Inc. described Carroll as a "real neighborhood guy," meaning he was always there to help someone out without anyone having to ask.

"He had a real concern for his neighbors and friends in the area," Fitzgerald said.

His daughter said her dad was also supportive of all the activities in which his children participated. When his sons were young, he was staple at baseball diamonds throughout the Far Southwest Side.

He later got to know everyone on his son's crew when he began working for the Department of Streets and Sanitation. Colleen Carroll teaches at Barnard Elementary School in Beverly and said her dad regularly visited the school to check on her and meet the students.

Colleen Carroll is also an organizer of the Beverly Breast Cancer Walk. She said her dad volunteered to sell raffle tickets to support the annual event.

"He was just a big part of our lives," she said.

To celebrate his 80th birthday, Carroll said the family threw a party and that included her father's five children, 10 grandchildren and plenty of barbecued food.

On the actual date of his birthday, she set out a tent in her front yard and ordered ice cream from The Original Rainbow Cone in Beverly. It was impossible not to stop by and chat with Carroll, and a crowd soon gathered.

"It was like a block party," Colleen Carroll said. "Everybody he met was a friend."

Roger Carroll also spent time in Naples, Fla. upon his retirement. His wife, Mary Pat, also died from lung cancer in 2009. The pair married in 1957.

His daughter said her dad was eager to return to the Southwest Side in his final years to be close to so many of his family and friends.

"It was a wonderful Christmas. Three neighbors came over, and all of his family was here," Colleen Carroll said. "It was a very beautiful life."

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