Carol Lavery Obituary

Carol Ann Lavery of Eugene died on July 20, 2025 from congestive heart failure and related causes. She was 79 years old. Carol was born in Lawrence, KS on January 29, 1946 to Carl H. Lavery and Juanita E. Lavery. Her early education was in Lawrence public schools and she graduated from the University of Kansas in 1968 with a BA degree in Anthropology. Her first marriage ended in divorce. Following graduation, Carol held several positions supporting the Anthropology Dept at KU.
As an interim job she drove a forklift for a bigbox retailer distribution warehouse, breaking the gender barrier for that particular post, and in 1977 she went to work for the Menninger Foundation as a job counselor. In 1980 she took a position in Washington DC with the White House Press Office. She remained in this position for 12 years participating in extensive international travel on Presidential trips abroad.
These were exciting and rewarding years for her and she was dearly loved by her White House colleagues. In 1992 she moved to Idaho Falls, ID where she took a job as a technical editor at the Idaho National Laboratory. It was there she met her second husband, William Lew Powell who also worked at the INL. In 2002, they retired and moved to Eugene, Oregon, where they enjoyed retired life including several years of international travel. Carol was fiercely independent, strongly opinionated, and a loyal friend. She was very involved with the Assistance League of Eugene as well as several activist organizations.
Carol followed national politics closely and was discouraged and distressed by the current political climate in the country. She is survived by her husband William Lew Powell of Eugene, her brother Curtis Lavery and his husband Mark Van Oss of San Francisco, and several cousins. She was predeceased by her parents, a brother David, and her first husband Paul L. Zillner. The family is grateful to the staff at Pete Moore Hospice House of Eugene for their kind and gentle care of Carol in her final days.