Carl Gardner Campbell

On the morning of Friday, December 13, 2019, Carl Gardener Campbell peacefully moved from this life in the company of his wife and son at the Christopher House Hospice in Austin, Texas. Carl was born on June 24th in 1945 to Jefferson Lee and Sylvia Story Campbell in Atlanta, Georgia.

Carl grew up in Mobile, Alabama where he attended (on a Latin scholarship) and graduated from UMS-Wright Preparatory School as an officer, as a star linebacker of the football team (earning him the nickname of “can opener”), as a state champion on the school’s bible sword drill squad but his favorite accomplishment is that he graduated with zero demerits. Carl attended Tulane University on a football scholarship his freshman year and studied philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. Carl met Linda Kay Yarborough in January, 1965 while Linda was doing a Psych rotation at the Austin State Hospital. While their child was fond of joking that his parents met at a mental institution, Carl and Linda were fond of saying “we met on the bus (taking state hospital patients) to the Symphony.” They were married on Friday the 13th of August in 1965 in Goldthwaite Methodist Church. They always had a fondness for the number 13 and considered it their “lucky number” and they happily celebrated every Friday the 13th throughout their marriage. Carl loved New Orleans from his time there in college and he and Linda decided to go there for their honeymoon. The piano player at Pat O’Brien’s knew Carl from his time on the football team (and apparently his very regular patronage) and played special songs for him and Linda during their stops at “Pat O’s”. Carl and Linda’s favorite drink at Pat O’s were called Zombies (the Hurricanes were much weaker and came in what they called “frou-frou glasses”). They loved Pat O’s and returned / revisited often on Carl and Linda’s many road tips to visit family and friends in Alabama and Georgia.

Always with a creative bent and a fondness for the humanities, Carl was a painter, an avid photographer, loved maps and exploring and was fond of mathematics, physics and philosophy. Every 5 years, Carl would collect and learn a new musical instrument and used to joke to his family that it was fun to learn a new instrument (he always said “it was less humiliating, less financially encumbering and less of a burden to his family than getting a new wife every 5 years”). Over the years, Carl developed talents for the Piano, Guitar, Flute, Clarinet and many other instruments. But his family and friends mostly remember his complete lack of musical talent with the trombone which he loved to play mostly for their comic enjoyment (and the occasional howling of any dogs that were guests in their home).

An avid member of the community, Carl volunteered his time in the community including work with (and leadership within) his local neighborhood association, as a Treasurer at the Elizabet Ney museum among other pursuits (including lobbying efforts to designate key building at the Austin State Hospital with historical status). He was the leader of a team that helped to develop the first Landscape Ordinance in Austin. The city council had never had anything presented to them where his group and worked with all the city sections and there was not opposition presented to the city council, only support (the ordinance passed unanimously). The Mayor and Austin’s city council members at that time were friends to Carl and Linda. In his later years, Carl enjoyed being a substitute teacher in the Round Rock Independent School District (RRISD) and enjoyed serving and making sure he worked at each and every school in the district during his tenure (at that time, RRISD had 43 schools / campuses).

Carl always loved to hike, explore and be out in about, whether as a father hiking Barton Creek or other parts of the hill country with his son or later in life perusing the many coffee shops of downtown Austin. He enjoyed taking public transportation and knew many bus drivers and coffee shop baristas by name (and them too by his name and signature hats). His main source of joy in his later years was his 54 year marriage to his wife Linda and being known as “Geezer Papi” (his nickname and Instagram handle) to his two granddaughters (Mackenzie and Hannah).

Carl was preceded in death by his parents, Sylvia and Jeff Campbell, as well as by his brother Paul Campbell, his sister Martha “Sam” Campbell and Carl and Linda’s beloved Extra Giant Maine Coon cat Victoria. He is survived by his sister, Ruth and by his wife, Linda and their son, Keith and his wife Susan and their two daughters Mackenzie and Hannah (Carl’s granddaughters). Carl is also survived by his brother in-law Owen and his son Chase Yarborough.

In lieu of a funeral / memorial service, a celebration of Carl’s life will be held after the Christmas holidays at a place and time to be announced later. We plan to find a space where we can eat, drink; peruse his art, instruments and other possessions (such as the innumerable number of hats that were his calling card where ever he went).

In lieu of flowers or other memorials, Carl’s family would appreciate donations to the following organizations: Friends of the Elizabet Ney Museum, https://www.amplifyatx.org/organizations/elisabet-ney-museum Mobile Loaves and Fishes, https://mlf.org/ways-to-give/ or Christopher House / Hospice Austin, https://www.hospiceaustin.org/get-involved-2/donate/