Former Kentucky Governor Dies at the age of 92

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

FRANKFORT — Former Democratic Kentucky Governor, Julian Morton Carroll, 92, died on Dec. 10, and he lied in state at the Capitol on Friday so the public could pay their respects. A memorial service was also held and the public had the opportunity to view the service on ket.org/live.

Carroll served as the 54th Governor of Kentucky from 1974 to 1979 succeeding Wendell H. Ford, who resigned to accept a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Carroll began dating Charlann Harting near the end of 1950 and in mid-1951 they parted ways to attend college. After their first year at college, Carroll and Hartin decided to get married in a ceremony on July 22, 1951. The couple had four children, Kenneth, Patrice, Bradley and Ellyn.

After graduating from the University of Kentucky and spending three years as an Air Force lawyer, Carroll returned to McCracken County where he led a campaign to allow the Tennessee Valley Authority to provide low-cost electricity to the county.

Carroll was elected to the first of five terms in the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1962, serving as speaker from 1968 to 1970. He ran for lieutenant governor in 1971 on an informal ticket with former governor Bert T. Combs, who lost in the Democratic primary to Wendell Ford, but Carroll defeated his primary opponents and went on to win the general election. He was elevated to the governorship in December 1974, according to Wikipedia, after Ford unseated Senator Marlow Cook. Carroll won a term as governor in his own right in 1975.

Carroll died at a medical center in Frankfort, after having spent his final months in hospice care.

Carroll’s funeral was held at Elevate Church in Frankfort and he was buried at Frankfort Cemetery.