Carol Frances Brady
Carol Frances Brady, who packed a lot into life before being diagnosed with dementia, died on June 14 at the Westhampton Care Center. A longtime Montauk resident, she was 74 and had been treated successfully for lung cancer that went to her brain.
Ms. Brady was a contestant at 17 on “What’s My Line,” a judo instructor, a fashion model, and a performer for four years with the Mighty Carson Art Players, who did skits on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show.” Her modeling career, with the Conover Agency, included print and commercial advertising for Dial soap, Wesson Oil, Ultra Brite toothpaste, and Camel cigarettes.
She was born on March 28, 1943, in East Orange, N.J., one of two daughters of the former Marion Rowe and John Raymond Bonnaviat. She grew up in West Orange, N.J., graduating from West Orange High School in 1961. She attended Washington College in Chestertown, Md., where she met James Brady. The couple married and divorced twice.
In 1962, after their first divorce, Ms. Brady moved to South Orange, N.J., where she ran a modeling school, and brought up their first child, Bonnie Brady of Montauk. The couple remarried in 1974 and moved first to Yonkers, where Ms. Brady joined the training program at the Westchester County Sheriff’s Department, from which she received a marksmanship award. They moved next to East Fishkill, N.Y., where she became a founding member of Concerned Residents of East Fishkill, which worked to expose the IBM corporation’s toxic dumping in an area called Shenandoah, which was declared a Superfund Site in 1981.
The family, now including five children, moved to Montauk in 1986, after Mr. Brady retired from the Yonkers Police Department. In Montauk, she formed managed the Montauk Youth soccer league and became a Little League softball coach for the Knights of Columbus team. She also was active with Montauk Theater Productions. Ms. Brady and her husband divorced for the second time in 1989. He died about 10 years ago.
In th early 1990s, Ms. Brady began working for Monte Real Estate, and eventually founded her own brokerage, Brady Realty, with offices in Montauk and Amagansett.
“She led many lives before she got sick, from Miss Junior Achievement Award to New York model to resident activist to soccer coach and mom to five kids. She did a great job at all of them,” said her daughter Bonnie Brady. She also was an enthusiastic softball player and enjoyed watching the New York Jets and New York Mets.
In 2000, she diagnosed with lung cancer. That same year, she met Evans Killeen of Westhampton Beach, a former American League baseball player. Although she was declared cancer-free in 2003, she was unable to work and moved a few years later to the Westhampton facility. Mr. Killen “was there virtually every night,” Bonnie Brady said. He survives, as do a sister, Barbara Bonnaviat of Bradenton Beach, Fla., and her children. In addition to Bonnie Brady, they are James Brady of Staten Island, Mike Brady of Columbus, Ohio, John Brady of Hampton Bays, and Allison Sheades of Springs. Seven grandchildren also survive.
The family will receive visitors at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton on Monday from 4 to 8 p.m. Ms. Brady was cremated. Half of her ashes will be buried privately at Fort Hill Cemetery in Montauk, with the remainder expected to be spread at sea at a later date.
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Correction: An earlier version of this obituary had the wrong date of birth for Ms. Brady. She was born on March 28, 1943. In addition, Ms. Brady was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2000, not in 1991, and met Mr. Killen that same year, while she was working at her own real estate brokerage, Brady Realty.