Long-time Phuket expat and book seller dies alone

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Long-time Phuket expat and book seller dies alone
Anthika Muangrod


Carol, second from right, pictured with her husband Addy, far right.

PHUKET: -- American Carol Ann Carmichael, 65, founder of the Kata Bookstore and a Phuket resident for 18 years, died at the weekend in her Rawai home.

Her body was found on Sunday afternoon (February 2) by an assistant and a neighbour, who called the authorities. Police arrived with rescue foundation staff who took Mrs Carmichael’s body to Vachira Phuket Hospital for an autopsy. It is believed she died sometime on Saturday night.

Mrs Carmichael was born on Christmas Day, 1948 and was raised in California and, before coming to Thailand, worked for IBM, writing code back in the days when computers filled whole rooms.

She first came to Thailand about 20 years ago, visiting Koh Samui, where she met her Thai husband, Addy. She also got to know the owner of a book store on the island, whom she helped by sourcing books from America.

She decided to set up her own book store and initially targeted Koh Chang. However, she contracted malaria and became very ill. After that she decided against Koh Chang and moved instead to Phuket.

In Rawai she and Addy built their own home and in 1996 Mrs Carmichael opened her first secondhand book store in Kata Centre. After about four years she moved to a better location close to Club Med, at a lower rent.

The business went well and she was was able to hire an assistant and also to sell Native American Indian collectibles.

Five years ago, however, Addy died of a heart attack and, just months later, the landlord of the book shop, a good friend of her husband, asked her to move out.

A neighbour, who asked to be named only as Peter, said, “Carol became very stressed. Her husband had just passed away, and she had too many books to move, and she didn’t know where to go. Depression seems to have been the cause of her problems since then.”

She found a new place for her business not far away, but the rent was much higher than in the old shop, and sales drifted down. After about 18 months she decided to close the store and retire. Her home still contains thousand of books.

The assistant, who had worked for her for four years, continued to visit her every two or three days as she became more and more reclusive.

Peter said, “I have known her since 1996 and she had a real passion for music. She loved classic rock and R&B and all that hippy music stuff; she was a child of the sixties.”

Two months ago, he said, she picked up a sore throat – a virus that was going around. She went to hospital once and clinics twice but after that stopped getting medical help.

“She didn’t want to go to hospital, nor did she want to eat. She just seemed to give up on life,” he said.

Mrs Carmichael is survived by her 96-year-old mother in the US and a son in his mid 40s, also in the US.

The funeral will be held at Wat Rawai at a date to be set once the autopsy has been completed. This is expected to take about a month.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/long-time-phuket-expat-and-book-seller-dies-alone-44444.php


-- Phuket News 2014-02-05

[Xangsamhua]

Sad she died alone.

RIP Carol Ann Carmichael.

[LivinginKata]

RIP Carol. I did not know here, although I knew her original book store. Quite a sad way her life turned after the death of her Thai husband.

[stevenl]

Her bookshop was just a few doors up from my shop, and she really made a very sad and lonely impression.

RIP.

[NomadJoe]

RIP Carol. I bought a few books from her over the years. You can still see the "Second Hand Books" sign painted on the power pole outside what I believe was one of her shops at one time. Thaina Rd. opposite Sabai Sabai Indian Food.

[BKKBrit]

What a sad end to what must have been a rewarding and colourful life. Respect.

[andreandre]

I checked out her shop years ago..had a lot of books then..

So sad to hear of her suffering..

Depression is a bastard of an illness...

RIP..

[Redhawk]

RIP Carol, my condolences goes to the family. Sad to see, one being alone in the last hour.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[britmaveric]

Sadly we are all alone when we ultimately take the dirt nap. It's having no company prior that is the sad part.

[Khon Thai Ben Khon Dee]

RIP Carol Ann Carmichael.

[Somtamnication]

Very sad. I hope her husband's "best friend" burns in hell.

[eezergood]

Hopefully she went peacefully

[granuaile]

R.I.P. ... sad, sad story....

[stevenl]

Very sad. I hope her husband's "best friend" burns in hell.

Without knowing the full story comments like this should not be made. In this case the comment is totally unjustified.

[phuketrichard]

RIP; one of the good old time locals

[andreandre]

Very sad. I hope her husband's "best friend" burns in hell.

Without knowing the full story comments like this should not be made. In this case the comment is totally unjustified.

So , you do in fact know the full story, or not?

[stevenl]

Very sad. I hope her husband's "best friend" burns in hell.

Without knowing the full story comments like this should not be made. In this case the comment is totally unjustified.

So , you do in fact know the full story, or not?

Yes, I do, which is why the comment was not justified. And that is all I am going to say about this, this thread is not the place for a discussion about this, and I want to leave the picture people have about Carol as is.

[andreandre]

Very sad. I hope her husband's "best friend" burns in hell.

Without knowing the full story comments like this should not be made. In this case the comment is totally unjustified.

So , you do in fact know the full story, or not?

Yes, I do, which is why the comment was not justified. And that is all I am going to say about this, this thread is not the place for a discussion about this, and I want to leave the picture people have about Carol as is.

Fair enough...

[JHenry]

"the landlord of the book shop, a good friend of her husband, asked her to move out"

You do not need enemies with "good friends" like that.

[saakura]

"the landlord of the book shop, a good friend of her husband, asked her to move out"

You do not need enemies with "good friends" like that.

Maybe the landlord was not running a charity and was himself dependent on rental income and was getting a better deal and asked her to vacate upon completion of the lease contract?

[grumpyoldman]

Topic title sort of rubs me the wrong way.

Literally yes, figuratively no, there were a lot of us that knew Carol, and I believe the title of this thread lends some sort of weak drama to the fact that Carol has passed on.

She used to crack me up with the Fox News just blaring away on her little set in that last store, "oh God, see that (!), Obama is the Anti-Christ for sure".

She turned me on to Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series, have now read them all, pointed me in the direction of Archer's How The Crow Flies, different person, went to her own drum beat, but overall a good heart.

For sure that heart took a major hit when her husband died.

RIP Carol

[EBlair48]

I agree, older women who happen to live alone are often depicted as outcasts in this manner .." died alone..." Shame on Phuket News.

If she were some ol fart who spent his time and money on short time whores and viagra, it would be totally unremarkable.

Topic title sort of rubs me the wrong way.

Literally yes, figuratively no, there were a lot of us that knew Carol, and I believe the title of this thread lends some sort of weak drama to the fact that Carol has passed on.

She used to crack me up with the Fox News just blaring away on her little set in that last store, "oh God, see that (!), Obama is the Anti-Christ for sure".

She turned me on to Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series, have now read them all, pointed me in the direction of Archer's How The Crow Flies, different person, went to her own drum beat, but overall a good heart.

For sure that heart took a major hit when her husband died.

RIP Carol