Carolyn Kay McDill

Carolyn Kay McDill ,81, of Kansas City passed away peacefully on April 8, 2023 at St. Luke’s Hospice House. She was born at home on June 15, 1941 in Randolph County, Illinois, the daughter of Leland and Ruby (Wilson) McDill. She graduated from Sparta High School and Southeast Missouri State in Cape Girardeau, then went on to earn a Master’s Degree in vocal performance at Missouri University in Columbia. After teaching one year in the St. Louis area, she moved to Kansas City in the fall of 1968 where she began teaching in the Independence School District, mostly at William Southern Elementary.

To know Carolyn was to know that music was her great passion in life. From a young age listening under the piano while her older sister practiced, to more than thirty years teaching elementary vocal music, to singing with various community and professional groups, she thrived on the energy of music. Singing with a madrigal group at the Renaissance Festival, with Meistersingers, and with the Choral Arts Ensemble of Kansas City brought her great joy.

Carolyn was a member of Second Presbyterian Church where she also sang with the Motet Choir. Additionally, she was a long-time member and officer of SAI (Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity), volunteering her time there as well as with the Kansas City Music Foundation and the Women’s Committee for the UMKC Conservatory. For years she enjoyed season tickets to the Kansas City Symphony, Lyric Opera, and Kansas City Repertory Theater.

Travel was another passion for Carolyn. She fondly remembered a solo journey to India in the 1970’s as one of her greatest adventures and greatest challenges. Other special memories were trips to China, Vietnam, and five of the Stans in Eastern Europe, as well as to much of Western Europe, South America, Mexico, and the United States.

Carolyn is survived by her sister, Donna McDill, of St. Louis and many cousins and other relatives primarily in Illinois and Indiana. She also is remembered with love by many, many friends who will miss her spirit and zest for life. Although Carolyn requested no service or organized celebration of life, her hope was that small groups of family and friends will remember her in their own special way.

Memorial donations in Carolyn’s name may be made to the following:

KC Music Foundation Scholarship Fund

c/o Pam Pendergast

4920 W. 69th St.

Prairie Village, KS 66208

https://kcmusicfoundation.org

Second Presbyterian Church of Kansas City

318 E. 55th St., Kansas City, MO 64113

secondpres.org