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Having grown up working in the stables, the park has been the Scotch Plains native's happy place for decades.
On Monday, April 18, Carroll made the park his final resting place. He chose to go on his own terms after a 12-year battle with cancer, his family tells Daily Voice.
"The cancer beat my dad, physically and at the end mentally," Katrina Carroll said on a GoFundMe page that had raised more than $28,000 as of April 21. "My dad couldn’t fight anymore, and he ended his fight in his way."
Carroll was from Edison and married his high school sweetheart Patricia, 47 years ago. Together they shared two kids, Katrina and Patrick. Carroll sold produce for more than 40 years, but his true passion was antiques. His house was full of them.
In 2010, Carroll was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. He endured countless treatments: Chemo, radiation and had two stem cell transplants and was in the midst of clinical trials at the time of his death.
He went into remission three times, but each time, Carroll got back up and fought again.
"He did anything he could do to beat this, non stop," Katrina said. "He was very strong. Of course we know he was in pain, he just tried to stay strong for us, and kept pushing, and trying to do what he could do."
Having grown up working with horses in the stables at the Watchung Reservation, Carroll returned week after week, year after year. He even used to bring his two children, wife and dogs in the mountains. And so, it came as no surprise to his family that that's where he took his final breath.
"The Watchung reservation was his favorite place in the whole world," Katrina said. "That was his place. Special place in his heart."
His family will honor his loss by continuing to raise funds toward the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, something Carroll was actively involved in.
"We’ll keep up that fight and just keep pushing day by," Katrina said. "Anything we can to honor him."
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