Carol A. Armour

"The body is only a garment. How many times you have changed your clothing in this life, yet because of this you would not say that you have changed. Similarly, when you give up this bodily dress at death you do not change. You are just the same, 
an immortal soul, a child of God."

-Paramahansa Yogananda

Carol Ann (Siroskey) Armour, a beloved wife, sister, stepmother, grandmother, teacher, mentor, and lifelong spiritual seeker, passed away on Sunday, September 27, with Richard, her husband of nearly 43 years, and her family by her side. For Carol, whose life was grounded in a profound belief in the eternal nature of the soul, death was not an ending, but the beginning of the next stage of her spiritual journey.

Carol was born on December 5, 1946, the daughter of Peter and Jeanne (Gach) Siroskey. Raised in Dearborn, Michigan, she grew up in a Polish American Catholic family in which faith and spirituality ran deep. When young, Carol spent summer vacations in Pennsylvania on the Gach homestead, where she enjoyed time with many of her more than 50 first cousins. She was in the fourth graduating class of Divine Child High School in 1966 and played the piano, often playing Christmas songs at holiday gatherings. She was a talented artist in multiple mediums, from drawing in charcoal to decorating with flowers when baking cakes. She loved organizing people and events and had a talent for putting her ideas onto paper, crafting beloved notes for friends and family and writing to secure funding for causes she was passionate about.

Carol loved nature deeply, and was often the first to suggest a hike, picnic, or swim when the family visited. Her siblings have many fond memories of her always being the first in the pool at any family reunion and remember her love of taking them for a swim in Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan, or the many local lakes around her home outside of Vanderbilt, Michigan. Carol's love for nature and wildlife left lasting impressions, ultimately inspiring nieces to pursue sustainable environmental work and volunteering.

With her brother and uncle serving as Catholic priests, Carol's early spiritual foundation would grow into a lifelong search for a deeper understanding of God, and a life defined by service, teaching, community, and love.

After earning a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Detroit, Carol joined the Peace Corps as a young woman and spent two years in Salvador, Brazil where she learned to speak Portuguese. That experience broadened her world and deepened a commitment to service that would remain one of the defining pillars of her life. A natural teacher and a passionate believer in the importance of offering service, she later taught English as a second language and worked with children with special needs. She also went on to spend 25 years with the U.S. Postal Service.

The great spiritual home of Carol's adult life was the Song of the Morning Ranch and its Clear Light Community, where she was a devoted and integral presence for 53 years. Founded by Yogacharya J. Oliver Black, a direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, Song of the Morning is dedicated to the teachings of Yogananda and to the ideal of creating a faith-centered life through meditation, fellowship, service, and world brotherhood. For Carol, these were not simply teachings she followed. They were principles she lived. She devoted herself to helping others find their own spiritual path, through teaching, service, friendship, and the example of her own life. Song of the Morning became not only her spiritual home, but a community she helped nurture for more than half a century.

Carol's service there took many forms. In her early years, she helped run the retreat's kitchen, where her talents as a gifted vegetarian cook found a natural home. She taught yoga for many years and served for decades on Song of the Morning boards. Carol was also a member of Self-Realization Fellowship and the Golden Lotus Yoga Teachers Association.

Song of the Morning was also where Carol met Richard, her beloved husband and partner for nearly 43 years. When they decided to marry, Mr. Black said to Richard that "there might be women as good as Carol, but you will never find one better." Carol and Richard were married at Song of the Morning on October 9, 1983, and were among the first to build a home there, putting down roots in what would grow into a flourishing spiritual community of friends, many of whom have now shared their lives for more than half a century. They were loving partners who grew together in spirit, supporting one another through a marriage grounded in love, faith, and a shared commitment to the community they called home.

Carol was both a devoted disciple and a passionate teacher in her own right. She spent a lifetime studying the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda and sought to personify them in her own existence. She believed deeply that this life is not the end, and that part of its purpose is to prepare the soul for what comes next. This certainty gave Carol a remarkable sense of peace and an unwavering strength that she freely shared.

Carol's faith was never something she imposed. She was genuinely interested in what other people believed and experienced. She listened without judgment and with openness, asked questions, held conversations, and looked for common ground. She accepted people as they were and welcomed them into her fold. She took a deep interest in others and had an unusual ability to look beyond the surface and see the heart of the person in front of her. When someone was hurting, frightened, or uncertain, Carol's quiet conviction and wisdom could be profoundly reassuring. She didn't need others to believe exactly as she did. She met them where they were, listened to them, learned from and with them, and gave freely of her strength to those who needed it.

For all the depth of her spiritual life, Carol was also wonderfully down-to-earth. She could be lighthearted and playful, and she possessed a joyful laugh that hinted at her understanding that there is much more to life than what can be seen. There was strength beneath her gentleness and conviction beneath her openness. She was a dynamo who could also be a bit feisty, especially when something or someone she cared deeply about was involved.

Carol spent decades helping to preserve the vision and traditions of Song of the Morning while always working towards its future. In her later years, this increasingly meant preparing to pass the torch. She became a mentor to younger members of the community, sharing the wisdom accumulated over a lifetime and helping prepare a new generation to carry forward the work to which she had devoted her life.

This instinct to nurture was fundamental to Carol. Though she had no biological children of her own, she was maternal in the most meaningful ways. She embraced and loved her stepchildren as family in the fullest sense, cherished her grandchildren, Finn and Zuzu, and extended this same loving warmth to countless people within her community and beyond. Carol had a way of gathering people around her, caring for them, feeding them, listening to them, worrying about them, encouraging them, and making them feel that they belonged.

Carol brought this same spirit of openness and abundance to her home. She was an extraordinary cook and baker whose pies and cakes were famous, and Thanksgiving and Christmas at Carol and Richard's were joyful celebrations filled with family, friends, and delicious food, with much of the produce coming from the garden Carol lovingly tended. Her 25 years working at the U.S. Postal Service also gave her an almost legendary ability to pack a box. No one could fit more Christmas presents into a package for her grandchildren than Carol.

Carol's garden was very much like Carol herself. It was bountiful, exuberant, and bursting with life. Vegetables grew in abundance, and her home was surrounded by the deer, chipmunks, countless birds, and other wildlife Carol fed each day. Her family affectionately joked that she was the Snow White of the Michigan woods because animals were naturally drawn to her. Inside was much the same: Carol and Richard shared their home with their three cats, Kitty, Annie, and Brahmin, their dog, Ponton, and Carol's turtle, Stripe.

Carol's generosity of spirit could be seen in the meals she prepared, the garden she nurtured, the animals she cared for, the family she loved, and the spiritual community she helped to steward and grow. Carol had a gift for cultivating things, whether plants, friendships, family, faith, or an entire community.

Even as her body began to fail, her spirit never did. She remained engaged with the people and community she loved, continuing to serve, mentor, share her wisdom, laugh, and live according to the faith that sustained her. She was down-to-earth and grounded while possessing a lighthearted and seemingly boundless spirit that brought strength and peace to those around her.

Carol's family was dear to her. It included Richard, her stepchildren and grandchildren, her brothers and sister, and her many nieces and nephews, but it also extended outward to generations of friends and community members. She made room for people. She welcomed them into her life, took an interest in theirs, and accepted them for who they were. The breadth of the lives Carol touched was especially apparent in her final days. Her hospital room filled with family, friends, and members of the community she had helped build and sustain, people who came to be with Carol after she had spent so many years being there for them. Together they shared songs and prayers and stories of a woman who was beloved.

Carol led a beautiful, meaningful, and fulfilling life. For more than half a century, she studied and taught the spiritual principles that had first called to her as a young woman. She believed in the eternal nature of the soul, in service to others, and in a life spent seeking greater closeness to God. Over time, she became not simply a student of these principles, but an embodiment of them. Her legacy can be found in the family she loved, the community she helped to build, the people she taught and mentored, the friendships she nurtured, and the countless people to whom she offered acceptance, strength, comfort, laughter, and love.

Paramahansa Yogananda, whose teachings Carol studied and sought to embody, wrote:

"From joy people are born; for joy they live; in joy they melt at death. Death is an ecstasy, for it removes the burden of the body and frees the soul of all pain."

On September 27, Carol began a new journey, leaving behind a life filled with love and service and a spirit that will live on in the many people whose lives were made richer by knowing her.

Carol leaves behind her devoted husband of nearly 43 years, Richard Armour; her sister, Barbara (Siroskey) Tucker and brother-in-law, Edward Tucker; her brother, Peter Siroskey; her stepchildren, Michelle Armour and Shaun Armour; her daughter-in-law, Sidney Armour; her beloved grandchildren, Finn and Zuzu; her nieces and nephews, Christina (Siroskey) and Michael Drummond, Michael Siroskey, Victoria Siroskey, and Amanda Siroskey; her grandnieces and grandnephew; her aunt Shirley and uncle Phillip Gach; many beloved cousins; and the extraordinary extended family of lifelong friends at Song of the Morning. She was predeceased by her parents, Peter and Jeanne (Gach) Siroskey; her brother, Father Larry Siroskey; and her nephew, Robert Siroskey.

A memorial celebrating Carol's life will be held at Song of the Morning in the months ahead, with the date to be announced. For those wishing to honor Carol's memory, the family asks that donations be made to Song of the Morning.

Please share your memories and personal messages with the family on her guestbook below.