Dr. Carrol L. Fry passed away on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, at Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Dr. Fry was born on July 31, 1932, in New Hampton, Missouri. He graduated from New Hampton High School in 1950. After a stint in the Army, he graduated from Northwest Missouri State University in 1957. Following graduation, he was a teacher at Maysville Missouri High School. He also worked as an insurance adjustor and later as a partner in a fire and casualty insurance agency and as assistant secretary of the Cass Mutual Insurance Association in Atlantic, Iowa. He began work toward his Ph.D. in English at the University of Omaha, where he earned his M.A., and completed his doctorate at the University of Nebraska. After 9 years on the English Department faculty at Mankato State College (now The University of Minnesota: Mankato), he accepted a position as chair of the English Department at Northwest Missouri State University, a position he filled for 12 years before returning to full-time teaching and research at Northwest. He loved teaching in all its forms, from the classroom to radio production of documentaries for NPR distribution at KXCV (the Northwest Missouri State University public radio station, where his programs won national awards) to publication of books and journal articles.
But even more, he loved his daughters and his beloved sister, Sandra Fry. He is survived by his daughters, Carey Lee Fry, of Omaha, Nebraska, and Erinn Eileen Fry, of Des Moines, Iowa, as well as his sister, Sandra Fry, of Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr. Fry has been cremated under the care of Price Funeral Home. A graveside service will be held in the spring of 2026 at the Grandview Cemetery in Albany, Missouri.
