Obituary of Carol Loretta Pilkington

July 17, 1942 – Hamilton, Ontario

August 6, 2023 - Calgary, Alberta

Carol Pilkington (nee Cooper), of Calgary, AB, passed away on Sunday, August 6, 2023, at the age of 81 years.

Carol was born in Hamilton Ontario on July 17, 1942, to Percy and Edna Cooper.  Her brother Donald was born in 1939.  When Carol was about 5 years old, the family moved to Calgary.  Carol went to Balmoral School, then Crescent Heights High School.  From there she went to the University of Calgary, to study education, specializing in fine arts and English literature.

 She was an active student; she joined the debating and drama societies and enjoyed painting in her spare time. In the summer of 1963, she left the university and started teaching. She finished her degree two years later.  In 1963, she met Roger Pilkington, who had just come over from England as a graduate student at U of C.  They married in 1965.  Roger’s sister Anne came to Calgary in 1963 and Carol’s brother, Don, married her in 1964.   In 1970, Roger finished his graduate work and Carol and he moved to Germany for 3 years, where Carol got a position teaching English at a German high school.

Carol and Roger loved their life in Germany with their Boston Terrier and travelled around Europe at every opportunity.  They returned to Calgary in 1973 where Carol continued teaching.  In 1975, they bought a house on an acreage in Bearspaw, just west of Calgary, where they happily lived for 36 years.  Carol loved working around the house, decorating, gardening, hiking, skiing, sailing, ballroom dancing, and travelling.  She loved to shop and find some interesting piece of furniture or something to put on a shelf.  Carol and Roger travelled in England, Europe, Greece, South Africa, Central and south America, the Middle East, Madagascar, and India.  They made several of these trips as volunteers with a dental group, and two were charity hikes.

In 1997, Carol retired from teaching and two years later obtained a diploma in interior decorating from SAIT.  She got considerable pleasure decorating a number of homes over the next two years.  In 2001, she became the president of the Bearspaw Historical Society and made it her mission to move and restore the 1920 Bearspaw one room School, which was threatened with demolition.  In 2002, the school was moved and restored by a group of volunteers, under her guidance; it reopened in November 2004.  The Society, under Carol’s leadership, moved the original teacherage back to the site and restored it and built a replica horse barn.  The three buildings are of historic interest and are rented to local groups.  This project would never have happened without Carol’s leadership.

In 2008, Carol was diagnosed with dementia and in December 2011, she moved into a facility that provided 24-hour assistance.  She died in Carewest Colonel Belcher on Aug 6, 2023.  Roger is very grateful to the care givers, nurses and doctors who attended Carol for 2 years in Carewest Rouleau Manor and 10 years in Carewest Colonel Belcher.

She is predeceased by her parents, Percy and Edna Cooper and her brother, Don, and his wife (Roger’s sister) Anne.  Carol and Roger had no children. A private graveside ceremony will take place at Queen's Park for the immediate family. 

In living memory of Carol Pilkington, a tree will be planted in the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area by McInnis & Holloway Funeral Homes, Park Memorial, 5008 Elbow Drive SW, Calgary, AB T2S 2L5, Telephone: 403-243-8200.