BRUNSWICK – Carol Eaton Elowe passed away peacefully on the morning of June 4, 2024 at the age of 91.

Born in Portland, Carol had a lifelong passion for music. Her piano studies began at the age of 4, and continued under Ocy Downs and later at the Manhattan School of Music with Dora Zazlavsky. She received a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the New England Conservatory and a Master of Music from Syracuse University. Her teachers included Jean Alderman, Frederick Marvin and Frank Glazer. She appeared in recitals throughout the Northeast and as guest soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra and the Syracuse Symphony.

For 19 years Carol was a piano faculty member and recitalist at Phillips Andover Academy. In 1995, she was a cofounder and became the first executive director of the Portland Conservatory of Music, where she also taught and chaired the piano department. She later served as chair of the faculty, and as a member of the Conservatory’s Board of Directors and the Advisory Council. Carol played the piano for the church choir at First Parish in Brunswick for 25 years, was a member of the Rossini Club, and served as artistic director of the Thursday Noon Concert series in Portland. In 2023, so young Maine musicians would be able to perform on a concert-quality instrument, she gifted her piano to the Portland Conservatory.

Carol’s life was also filled with her large and loving family. Carol grew up in Portland and graduated from Deering High School. She met her husband of 49 years, Edmond Nasir Elowe, at a Bowdoin College party. They wed in 1953 and raised five children in Andover, Mass., Skaneateles, N.Y., and Harpswell. Carol later cared for her husband for many years due to illness before his passing in 2002.

She loved gathering her family and sharing her passion for home, gardens, and music. At holidays and weddings, Carol was always at the piano, sharing her remarkable talent and tolerating her family’s off-key choral additions.

Carol is lovingly remembered by her five children and their spouses; her eight grandchildren and their spouses; and her four great-grandchildren.

A memorial service and reception will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday, June 10 at First Parish Church in Brunswick.

Memories and condolences can be shared at http://www.brackettfh.com.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Carol’s memory may be made to the Portland Conservatory of Music.

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