Carole Haugh Anderson

Carole Haugh Anderson, of Nashua, NH died peacefully at home on January 14, 2025, after a long bout with pancreatic cancer and related complications.  She is survived by her husband, Harley Anderson, who she was lovingly married to for sixty-five years.  She is survived by her sister Judith (Haugh) Nilson, of Williamsburg, VA.  She is also survived by her three children and nine grandchildren: Susan Anderson Watts and her husband David, of Arlington, MA, and their children Joshua, Benjamin and Rachel Watts, Kenneth Anderson and his wife, Margie, of Ashland, MA, and their children Katrina (Anderson) Walsh and Erik Anderson, and Lisa (Anderson) Cianciolo and her husband Chris, of Westford, and their children Abigail (Cianciolo) Sheckler, Annika, Lars and Britta Cianciolo, as well as one greatgrandchild, Shepherd Sheckler.  She cherished being “Nana” and her grandchildren (and Shep!) were her world.

Carole was born April 18, 1938 to Victor Stanley and Marion (Olive) Haugh, late of Bedford and Burlington, MA.  Carole was the oldest of three children, and her earliest years were spent among her father’s large family, with grandparents who were immigrants from Norway, in a mainly Norwegian community in Roxbury.  The family was deeply involved with the Evangelical Free Church in Dedham. Those relationships and the influence of that community shaped Carole’s life, which was always fully engaged with family and a community of faith.

When Carole was still a child, the Haugh family moved to Belmont, MA, where Carole attended school and met Harley, and the two became inseparable.  The high school sweethearts married on March 29, 1959, while Carole was attending Lasell College in Newton and Harley was attending Northeastern University.  Shortly after the birth of their daughter Susan, Harley’s Army ROTC obligations brought them to Ft. Gordon, Ft. Benning, and then Ft. Bragg, where their son Ken was born.  Their third child, Lisa, was born shortly after they moved back to Massachusetts in 1967.  After living briefly in Bedford, the family moved to Lexington, MA where they raised their family.

While in Lexington, Carole quickly got involved with activities at Grace Chapel and the children’s school PTOs.  While Harley was on faculty at Northeastern University, Carole focused on the family while also working as a coordinator of Vacation Bible School and as Sunday School Superintendent, and later as a travel agent.  She never missed a track meet, piano recital, football game, swim meet, play, teacher’s conference, and dutifully carted her kids around to all sorts of music lessons and sports practices.  She created a home where everyone was welcome, bringing home her kid’s college friends who had nowhere to go on Thanksgiving and other holidays.  She was “Mom” and later “Nana” to many.

After her children had grown, the couple moved to New Hampshire, where they lived in Hollis for twenty years, then moving to Nashua in 2022.  They were involved with the Heritage Park Baptist Church in Burlington, where the couple was involved in hospitality for years.  They later joined Trinity Baptist Church in Nashua where they were was involved in ministry, including the Silver and Gold seniors Bible study, which they faithfully attended until Carole’s heath concerns became the priority.  Carole was a breast cancer survivor, and in the fall of 2023, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  Despite her terminal prognosis, she was able to see three or her grandchildren get married and enjoyed the first year of her great grandson’s life.

There will be a Celebration of Life service February 1, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. at the Trinity Baptist Church, 3 Lund Road, Nashua, NH.  All are welcome.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made through https://trinitynh.org/give to the Carole Anderson Memorial youth scholarships by selecting the fund in the drop down menu.

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