Carnell—Sue Powel Carnell, 80, on August 19, 2017, at home at Broadmead Retirement Community in Cockeysville, Md. Sue was born on February 23, 1937, in Baltimore, Md., to Alice Klingelhofer and William Rodenbaugh Powel. A member of Stony Run Meeting in Baltimore since she was 13, when she was a teenager, she made an impassioned speech to the meeting urging Friends School of Baltimore to accept students of color, as it did shortly thereafter, following Brown v. Board of Education. She met John Evans Carnell in 1955 at a Quaker Youth conference in Indiana. Engaged within five days, they married that year. While raising four children, she earned a master’s degree in education in 1974 at Towson University (then Towson State University) and in 1981 an advanced studies in liberal arts certificate from Johns Hopkins University. She began her career at Baltimore City Community College (then Community College of Baltimore) in 1975 as director of a student tutoring center and then moved into administrative roles in the dean’s and president’s offices.
Retiring in 1999, she served on the board of Friends School of Baltimore from 2008 to 2013, chairing the Diversity Sub-Committee. She founded the Powel-Carnell Scholarship Fund at the school to benefit students of color. Long active on many committees at Stony Run Meeting, she also served on the boards of Samuel Ready Scholarships, Inc. and Friends Journal.
Sue was a devoted, loving, and somewhat mischievous grandmother. She made sure that her house in Towson and, starting in 2005, her Broadmead apartment were places of endless joy and fun—with trees to climb, rope swings, and power tools. Her wacky cakes, pies, deviled eggs, and fruit salads were the centerpieces of all family gatherings, as were her humor, enthusiasm, and kindness. She and John took trips to over 50 countries in their retirement. She was an enthusiastic member of the Broadmead community, serving as vice-president of the residents’ association and head of the ceramics club. Her tenacity and unwavering ability to see the best in people lifted everyone she touched. Her Light will not soon be forgotten. It will continue to lift those who hold her in their memories and in their hearts.
Her husband, John Evans Carnell, passed away in 2015, one month before their 60th wedding anniversary. Sue is survived by her children, N. Eric Carnell (Sangwoon Han), Cristin Carnell Lambros (Matt Levinger), Rachel Carnell (Greg Lupton), J. Kevin Carnell (Tea); eight grandchildren; a brother, William Rodenbaugh Powel III (Rebecca); and a sister-in-law, Dianne Powel (widow of Stephen Sharpe Powel). Donations in her memory may be made to the Powel-Carnell Scholarship Fund at Friends School of Baltimore, 5114 N. Charles St., Baltimore, Md., 21210.
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