James Cotton Carroll

Died December 31, 2000

College: Calhoun

Children: John Charles Carroll, 1967; Mary Russeth Carroll, 1970; Sally Anne Carroll, 1971

Jim Carroll came to Yale from Edina-Morningside High School in Minnesota. The son of Charles Brownell Carroll and Jean Cotton Carroll, he was born April 29, 1939. He played football in high school and earned a N.Y. Yale Club Scholarship to Yale.

A member of Beta Theta Pi and Yale Key, Jim roomed with Tom Firth and Lynn Johnson in Calhoun College, where he was a member of the Calhoun Council (secretary in senior year). After a football injury, Jim switched to crew and rowed with the Yale crew in sophomore and junior years. Active in Class of ’61 affairs, he was a member of the Class Council, served on the Executive Committee, and also worked on the Class Gift Fund.

Jim’s exertions on behalf of the latter were recorded in the 1961 Class Book: “Jim Carroll became known as the politico extraordinary of Calhoun, and nobody got off the hook of class fund contributions until he had passed through a grilling by Boss Carroll.”

Classbook photos of Jim, however, depict an extraordinarily congenial, fun-loving fellow, usually laughing and frequently strumming on his guitar in the middle of a party – whether invited to play or not.

After his B.A. in History from Yale in 1961, Jim continued his education at the University of Minnesota and received his law degree there. He worked as an attorney for Ohio Edison in Akron, Ohio and then for Getty Oil in Oklahoma.

Jim married Virginia Russeth and became father to John Charles Carroll (1967), Mary Russeth Carroll (1970), and Sally Anne Carroll (1971).

Owing to health reasons, Jim retired early back in Minnesota. Our friend and classmate , Jim Carroll, died December 31, 2000.

—by Lynn Johnson