Carolyn Bayly Drury

CINCINNATI - Carolyn Bayly Drury, 83, died on May 24, 2007, at the Western Hills Retirement Village in Cincinnati. Called Bobby by her friends, she was born in Cambridge on Jan. 27, 1924. Her father, the late Alexander Shepherd Bayly, owned a dry goods store on Race Street and took his own life in 1933.

Her mother, Sadie Harrington Bayly, died in 1959. Two older sisters, Elizabeth Bayly Murphy and Sarah Bayly Schlaick, also preceded her in death.

Bobby attended the kindergarten of Miss Ridah Collins, the Academy School, Cambridge Junior High, and Cambridge High School, from which she was graduated in 1941.

She spent a year at National Park College in Washington, D.C., where she majored in organ performance. In June 1944, she married Lt. Philip Drury of the U.S. Army. They returned to Cambridge, had a son in 1950, separated in 1958, and were divorced in 1961.

Bobby moved with her son John to the Washington suburbs, where she rose to the position of head teller at the Bank of Bethesda. She later worked as a bookkeeper for Community Auto Parts.

In 1987, she moved back to Cambridge to care for her dear friend, the late Carolyn Long, a singer who had performed in recitals and operas all over the country. In 2001, Bobby moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, to be near her son and his family.

Her many interests included playing the piano, listening to opera, collecting coins and stamps, watching British comedies on television, competing in friendly games of Scrabble, chess, and Parcheesi, and taking care of her beloved Siamese cat, Aida. When she was younger, she played golf and bridge. She also compiled a genealogical record of the Bayly and Harrington families.

She was an avid traveler who treasured her memories and mementoes of trips to Venice and Florence in Italy, Munich and Nuremberg in Germany, Monterey, Calif., Disneyland, and Barbados. Before she moved to Cincinnati, she took a number of plane flights there, always accompanied by her cat.

Bobby is survived by her son, John Drury, a poet and professor of English at the University of Cincinnati; and two grandchildren, Eric and Rebecca. Her nephew, Robin Kirwan II, lives in Cambridge.

She was baptized and confirmed in Christ Episcopal Church but later became affiliated with the Methodist Church in Madison, the hometown of her mother.

A graveside service will take place at 1 p.m. June 16, at Dorchester Memorial Park. The Rev. Robert G. Kirkley will speak and offer prayers.

The family requests that donations in her memory be made to the Humane Society.

Funeral arrangements are being handled by Dalbert, Woodruff and Isenogle in Cincinnati and Len Zeller in East New Market.