Judy Carol Honeycutt

Judy Carol Honeycutt was born on April 18, 1944, in rural Iredell County, North Carolina. She died on March 7, 2025, in Rock Hill, SC, after a years-long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

“J.C.” was a highly gifted student and graduated co-valedictorian of her class at Troutman High School in 1962. She earned a full academic scholarship with early acceptance to Duke University, where she studied English and spent a semester abroad in England. While in college, she became passionately involved in the struggle for civil and women’s rights and continued to support these causes and the Democratic Party her entire life. 

After college, she worked for Quaker House in Fayetteville, NC, as part of her efforts to help end the war in Vietnam. She met and married Bill Carothers, and their daughter Nora was born in 1973. After raising their daughter and divorcing, J.C. embarked on a second act. Working full-time and going to school at night, she earned her insurance fraud Investigator’s License and had a very successful career. She also began attending the Swannanoa Gathering program of music workshops at Warren Wilson College and joined the Charlotte Folk Society and other groups for musicians, songwriters, and music lovers. She became an accomplished singer/songwriter and performer. She recorded an album and performed live onstage at the Grey Eagle in western NC, the Neighborhood Theater, the Evening Muse in Charlotte, and the Resurrect Art coffee house in Seward, Alaska. 

Her musician friends at the Swannanoa Gathering said that she would perform last in the student showcase every year because she always brought down the house. She also wrote and performed an original song for her daughter’s wedding ceremony. Somehow, she found time to be a contestant on Jeopardy! Along with her many amazing accomplishments, J.C. was a loving mother, a generous and trusted friend, a loyal daughter, sister, and aunt, and a good, honest, and hardworking human being.

She is missed by her friends and family, especially her grandson William, whom she was so proud of, her daughter Nora and son-in-law Todd, and her longtime companion, Doug Carswell. 

A celebration of J. C.’s life was held at her daughter’s family’s home on Sunday, March 30.