Carol Bjorlie

Published author and poet, cellist, and lover of life, Carol Bjorlie, age 79, passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by her family, on March 22, 2025. Carol was born in Richmond, Virginia to Kathryn and Oscar Pearce, the second baby her parents never thought they could have. She grew up in Richmond in the Church Hill neighborhood and learned to play the cello at the age of ten because her mother did not like the sound of the violin. She attended East Carolina University, where she met her first husband, Kelly Alexander. Carol and Kelly had two sons, Michael and Ben. After eight years of marriage, she and Kelly divorced.

Carol joined the Charlotte Symphony in 1974 where she met and fell in love with fellow Symphony musician, double bassist Leo Bjorlie. Carol and Leo married in 1977 and walked a path together of 47 years of music, adventure, and love. A highlight of their time in Charlotte was the Symphony’s tour of Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands in 1987; their son Michael accompanied the group on the tour. The CSO played Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at the Warsaw Opera House, “sharing orchestra stands with Polish musicians,” which was a profound experience for Carol, who claimed “we brought down the Wall” with their collaboration across the Iron Curtain. The group also toured East Berlin.

The Bjorlies moved from Charlotte to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1995, where their journey continued. Carol taught poetry at The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis and earned a Master of Arts in Creative Writing at Hamline University. Her final project was a unique combination of poems read and ‘cello music performed at a hospital for terminal cancer patients. Carol truly believed that “poetry saves lives.” She continued to teach cello and bass students in St. Paul and also taught as an adjunct faculty member of the music department at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, driving faithfully across the St. Croix River in her blue VW bug.

Carol’s faith was foundational. She was baptised and confirmed at Emmanuel Episopal Church in Richmond, VA. She later married Leo, her “soulmate” and served as a Sunday School teacher as an active member at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Charlotte; she then attended St. Matthew’s Episcopal in St. Paul, and later Calvary Episcopal in Fletcher, North Carolina. Carol was an enthusiastic member of every church to which she belonged, bringing color, passion, and her playful energy to impact all she touched. Carol loved to bake bread for communion.

Carol was a gifted orator. She read Babar with the accompaniment of the Symphony and enjoyed performing her own poetry as well. She was a committed letter writer, to the delight of her family and friends, many of whom have kept all of the letters they ever received from her. She liked to say that her “head was full of children” and she loved sewing doll clothes for the little girls in her life.

Carol and Leo enjoyed 47 years of marriage. She was mother to Ben and Michael, mother-in-law to Shelby and Oksana; grandmother to Thomas, Pearce, Noah, Jonah; great-grandmother to Kylin; beloved sister of Cheryl and Paul; sister-in-law to Lois Marie, Ellen, Ruth, John, Mark, and Barbara; aunt to Laurie, Michael, Jeffrey, Karen, Christie, Bradley, Laura, Naomi, Soya, Johann, Solomon, Matthew, Becca, and Adam; great-aunt to Linnea, Hayes, Elisha, Ella, Parks, Rohan, Jack, and Wells; godmother to Laurie, Rebecca, Ming-Lee, and Kai; and close friend to Dorothy Cole, Lois Wharton, and Jerusha Fadial.

Carol was preceded in death by her father, Oscar Franklin Pearce; mother, Kathryn Pearce Wakefield; step-father Charlie Wakefield; and childhood best friend Julie Gonner. Carol was a brave truth-teller with a child-like spirit, fierce belief in her family, safe harbor for those in need, family history keeper and tale teller, cook, baker, and painter of red walls.

A celebration of Carol’s life will take place this summer in Asheville, date to be determined.

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