Dr. Carmen Irene Dressler Ward

Dr. Carmen Irene Dressler Ward, 93, passed away peacefully on February 4, 2026. She lived a long and very active life and was loved by so many. We will miss her dearly.

The youngest child of H.A. “Bert” and Cora Whaley Dressler, Carmen grew up on a dairy farm in rural Lebo, KS. She started first grade at age five in a one-room country school, survived a tornado (just like Dorothy), graduated from Burlington High School, and received her B.S. in Education from Kansas State Teachers College (Emporia State University.) Carmen was the last of five Dressler siblings including her sister, Norma and brothers Dennis, Gordon, and Nolan (who died heroically over the skies of Europe fighting Nazis in WWII.)

Like Dorothy, Carmen didn’t stay in Kansas. Her adventures were just beginning.

Shortly after graduating from college in 1954, Carmen traveled by bus to New York City. From there it was a two-week trip by ship to England and then by rail to Edinburgh, Scotland to marry John W. Ward, Jr., a fellow Kansan and college sweetheart studying abroad as a Rotary Foundation Fellow in Edinburgh. They married in Duddingston Kirk in Edinburgh, honeymooned in Scotland, and travelled through Europe, returning to live in Dallas TX where Carmen taught in an elementary school and was the piano accompanist for a ballet school while John completed seminary at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University.

After his ordination as a United Methodist minister, Carmen moved with John to Indiana, where he served churches in Coatesville and Gary and Carmen taught second grade. They moved to Evanston IL where John completed his Ph.D. at Northwestern University and took several teaching positions before moving to Wellesley MA in 1965. That’s the year John accepted a position at Boston University School of Theology where he was Professor of Homiletics (Preaching) for the next 30 years. While raising two sons, Carmen earned Masters and Doctoral degrees in Education from Boston University.

Carmen’s professional life, in addition to earlier elementary school teaching, included seven years as Library/Media Specialist in Walpole MA public schools and 16 years in administration at Babson College in Wellesley MA, where she worked in the Alumni, Special Events, and International Programs offices—at one time being in charge of Babson’s International Student Exchange Program. She also served on the Advisory Board of the Anna Howard Shaw Center at Boston University School of Theology.

During Babson years, Carmen was honored by the college with the Student Advocate Award (1996) and the Woman Who Makes a World of Difference Award (1998). She also received the Mary E. Tobin Award from the Massachusetts Association of Women in Education, given annually to an educator working for the “advancement of women’s causes.” That wasn’t simply coincidence: Twelve years before she was born, women were granted the right to vote. Carmen never forgot that or missed an opportunity to cast her ballot. She believed in the power of democracy and civic participation.

During her time at Babson College, Carmen actively researched biographies of notable women, which led to lectures she gave on Amazing—but Forgotten—Women to numerous church, community, and college groups. In her lifetime, Carmen became one of those amazing women, too.

In their time in New England, Carmen and John spent 33 summers on Cuttyhunk Island, 15 miles off the New Bedford coast of Massachusetts, where John was summer pastor of the only island church (Methodist in name but ecumenical in practice, hosting Episcopal, Roman Catholic, and Protestant worship and programs). Carmen played the piano or organ for hundreds of worship services of all kinds, and for other public island programs.

John and Carmen’s love of travelling took them not only from coast to coast in the U.S. but also to more than 20 countries (England was a favorite), including a year for John’s sabbatical in Kenya. When Carmen and John moved to North Carolina in 2000 to be near sons and grandchildren, they weren’t finished with adventures.

In their retirement, John and Carmen were anything but retiring. They both loved to learn. As a firm believer in lifelong learning, Carmen took courses with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Duke University and with the Robert and Pearl Seymour Center in Chapel Hill. Along with her formal degrees, she attended hundreds of classes through the years, by Zoom or in person, from poetry to hammered dulcimer to yoga to meditation to strength training. Her motto: “Keep Moving, Keep Learning!” She attended concerts and performances of all types from dance to theater, supported and patronized public libraries, read books, engaged in personal writing, and kept in touch with a wide circle of friends from “sea to shining sea.” In a Duke University-sponsored OLLI poetry-writing class she became an accomplished award-winning poet in her own right, with published work in prestigious Bay Leaves, Pinesong, and Kakalak journals.

Throughout her life, wherever she was in the world, Carmen was also fluent in the international language of music. As an accomplished pianist, Carmen’s 15 years of formal studies ended with a solo recital her senior year in college, but that was just the start of her lifetime love of music and performance. In high school and college she was piano accompanist for individuals and community groups such as the local Rotary Club—long before women were “allowed” to participate formally.

In North Carolina, Carmen was piano accompanist over many years for hundreds of church, college, and community choral events, including Duke University’s Divinity School summer Course of Study program for aspiring pastors, OLLI/New Horizons Chorus, Resurrection United Methodist Church, Elizabeth Street United Methodist Church, Massey’s Chapel United Methodist Church, and Duke Hospice. She even played in Duke Chapel as worship pianist for the Course Of Study program at Duke Divinity School. For that program, Carmen prepared and performed hundreds of pieces of music during her time with that program. As a lifelong educator who was active in local churches, she helped aspiring pastors appreciate the importance and role of music in worship services. Carmen was also the piano accompanist for husband John when he played violin for church and other events, but she didn’t stop with piano. In later years she also learned to play hammered dulcimer and performed regularly with other musicians.

Carmen also wrote a hymn, Walking in God’s Way, first performed at the 2024 World General Conference of The United Methodist Church in Charlotte NC. She also recorded her own music CD of piano “favorites” in 2012.

Through it all, Carmen relished extended family and friend get-togethers—whether at Dressler Family Reunions or with other extended family and friends near and far. Closer to home, she enjoyed preparing “family meals” for her sons, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. As a “master chef,” there were only satisfied smiles and few leftovers after any meal she prepared.

A “super-ager,” Carmen kept abreast of current events and issues by listening to and supporting local PBS and classical radio stations—plus award winning WCHL radio that carries son Scott’s “History Matters” show. She read daily newspapers, subscribed to Prevention magazine and AARP, Our State, and Consumer Reports, and watched nightly local and national news programs on PBS, CNN and MSNOW. Carmen regularly clipped and shared articles, remaining active, engaged, and passionate about progress, ever curious about the world. That was a secret to her youthfulness regardless of her chronological age.

A stanza from one of the poems she wrote in recent years reflected her lifelong optimism and spirit of resilience:

Come, take from my basket HOPE

Walk with it, run with it

Leap, clap your hands with Hope

Sweep your house with it, bake bread with it,

Sprinkle its life-giving power on everyone you meet

Light a candle with it, carry the light of Hope

Wherever you are, wherever you go

Carry it with you always.

Carmen and John celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2004, before John’s passing in 2005. Carmen is survived by two sons, Scott Washington and Mark Ward, and by three grandchildren: Shawna (Jon and great granddaughter, Vivan), Sage (Hannah and great grandson Emerson), and Spencer (Tracey). She’s also survived by numerous nieces and nephews and their families across the U.S.

A memorial service will be held at Elizabeth Street United Methodist Church, 1209 North Elizabeth Street, Durham NC 27701 on Wednesday, March 4, 2026 at 11 a.m., with reception to follow. (Internment of ashes will occur at a later date.) The March 4th service will be live streamed (click on the link in the red banner at top of the church webpage for access to the service that day; join by Zoom or by browser: ( https://elizabethstreetumc.org/ )

Meal time get togethers with family and friends were as meaningful to Carmen as music. That’s why a contribution in memory of Carmen Ward to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, ( https://foodbankcenc.org/ ) is a wonderful way to help others in need and to celebrate her memory, too.