Carrel Pray

There died in this community a woman in her 96th year who embraced music, the arts, family, and friends with the gift of seemingly endless passion. Carrel Myers Pray is best known in Madison as the founder and first director of the Madison Boy Choir, which eventually became today's Madison Youth Choirs.

Born into a musical family in Morristown, New Jersey, Carrel was the daughter of Harold L. and Emily Carrell Myers. Her father was a skilled designer, manufacturer, and, most notably, a gifted singer, who brought her into Manhattan regularly to see the Metropolitan Opera. After attending Morristown public schools and spending summers as a camp counselor in Maine, Carrel majored in piano performance at Bradford College in Haverhill, Massachusetts. She graduated in 1939 and began teaching piano.

Between 1942-45, Carrel worked for the American Red Cross in Framingham, Massachusetts, providing music for disabled vets returning from the war. On a train to Washington DC, she sat across from a young scientist from Wisconsin, with whom she would spend the rest of her life. Carrel wed Lloyd Pray on September 14, 1946. For their honeymoon, they drove west in a Buick Roadster and started a family in Altadena, California, while Lloyd was getting his Ph.D. in geology at Cal-Tech. In 1956, the family moved to Littleton, Colorado, and then to Madison in 1968, where Lloyd taught geology at the University of Wisconsin for 35 years. The couple lived in a renovated farmhouse, which she named "Tumbledown" after her favorite mountain in Maine.

Throughout the 1950s and '60s, Carrel continued to teach piano to children of all ages. She also directed children's church choirs and studied with famed symphony conductor Dr. Antonia Brico of Denver. In 1971, she pursued a longtime passion and founded the Madison Boy Choir, becoming musical director for its first 16 years. The choir performed in dozens of local, national and international concerts and tours, often collaborating with UW choral and symphony groups, and winning a national competition in 1985 sponsored by the American Choral Directors Association. Carrel will be remembered by scores of Madison area singers for teaching them life skills and an exuberant love of music.

In tandem with her musical career, Carrel pursued photography and watercolor painting for most of her life. In 1945 she studied at the School of Modern Photography in New York. She took up watercolor painting in 1958 under artist Gerry Pierce. A member of the Madison Art Guild and the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, Carrel created award-winning landscape paintings that have been exhibited throughout the region.

Carrel followed her husband Lloyd in death by only 7 weeks during their 70th year of marriage. She is survived by a brother, William C. Myers, four sons, 12 grandchildren, and 3 great-grandchildren: son Lawrence Myers Pray and wife Connie (Beaire) of Minneapolis (grandchildren Timothy, Andrew, Benjamin, and Emily); son John Allan Pray and wife Eileen (Wright) of Madison (grandchildren Sarah and Ian); son Kenneth Palmer Pray and wife Mary (Ohlinger) of Cincinnati (grandchildren Catherine, Allan, Christopher, and Lauren); and son Douglas Carrel Pray and wife Diana (Rathe) of Los Angeles (grandchildren Theron and Sophia). She was preceded in death by an older brother, Harold L. Myers, Jr.

Carrel's community contributions knew no bounds. She helped start a camp for diabetic children, was host to foreign AFS students, created marionette performances for the community, was an avid tennis player, an active member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Madison, supported political causes and promoted social justice. In 1966, she was named Littleton, Colorado's "Foremost Mother of the Year."

The family wishes to thank the staff at the Sebring memory care unit of Coventry Village and Agrace Hospice Care for their love and care during the last years of Carrel's life.

A memorial service will held on Saturday, June 11 at 11:00 a.m. at the Quaker Meeting House, 1704 Roberts Ct., Madison, Wisconsin. Following the service, at 12:30 p.m., there will be a reception at Tumbledown Barn, 7664 Tumbledown Trail, Verona, Wisconsin. A private interment service for family/close friends will take place on Sunday, June 12 at 10:00 a.m. at Forest Hill Cemetery. Further info at: www.cressfuneralservice.com . Donations in Carrel's name may be given to the Madison Youth Choirs, or the Religious Society of Friends (Madison).

Cress Funeral & Cremation Service
3610 Speedway Road, Madison
608-238-3434