Carol Scovil Berardo

     On Monday, we - daughter Lora and I -  were in Pittsburgh for the funeral of my sister, Carol.  She had been diagnosed within the year with kidney cancer that eventually went to her bones.  She was in a lot of pain at the end and she died way too fast.  She was born in 1945, the fifth of eight of us - the third of four sisters. In the picture on the left, she is the one in the polka dot dress.
     She attended the Academy of our Lady as a freshman and then decided to go to Manual High. When Judy's husband was transferred to Pittsburgh in 1967, Carol went along.  She met Don Berardo and had three children, Angela - her primary care giver the last few months -  Dan and Donna.
      Carol  did for others.  She was an excellent cook and was an expert at making the Italian dishes she learned from her mother-in-law.  When she lived at home, she took care of Dave and Sue, she babysit for Vern and I on occasion, and how she loved her own children.  When her mother-in-law had a stroke, it was Carol who took care of her and at Mrytle's death, her father-in-law moved in with them.  Everyone was welcome at Carol's house.  That is probably her legacy, she always treated everyone like family.  She inherited Mother's gift as a storyteller, she remembered everything and I can't recollect her saying anything bad about anyone else.  Carol was a heavy smoker and she didn't take care of her health as she should have - she inherited that from our mother as well. 
      It's a strange thing going to the funeral of a sibling, especially someone younger.  You feel as though you are on borrowed time.  At the funeral Mass, the priest pointed out the Easter candle that is always lit at Catholic  funerals.  He said, that it is lit the first time at the Easter Vigil and it denotes new life as in Jesus' Resurrection and at funerals it symbolizes a new life in heaven.  That's what I hope for our sister.  A new life, where she will be cared for and she has no more pain.  Rest in peace, little sister.

The rest of the story.....The hearse that carried Carol from the funeral home to the Church and then to the cemetery was made by the Sayres/Scovill Company.  A neat coincidence.