Carol Jane Carr Dell died in Arlington on March 9 at home in her sleep just the way she wanted. She was 93.

Carol was born on Sept. 23, 1931 to Edith (Petersen) “Pete” Carr and Harris Arnold Carr in Oak Bluffs. She grew up in the family business of Darling’s Popcorn Store on Circuit avenue, and was named after Darling’s founder, her great uncle Carroll John Darling.

She was able to recite all the flavors of salt water taffy, and maintained a lifelong fondness for wintergreen popcorn bars. As a teenager, she became the store’s top salesperson for delivered candy, driving the Darling’s truck to sell and deliver candy to clients from East Chop to the Edgartown drugstore and beyond. During WWII, she often joined her father watching the skies for German planes in a hut beside the East Chop Lighthouse.

She graduated valedictorian of her class at Oak Bluffs High School. While she wanted to attend art school, she frequently noted that girls of her generation were told they could become secretaries, teachers or nurses. She attended the then New England Deaconess School of Nursing in Boston and was certified as a registered nurse. She was encouraged to complete an additional degree program to join those teaching at the school but found the first course in ward administration boring.

After working as a nurse for several years, including one summer back on the Island at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, she married Edward Thomas Dell, Jr. in 1954. As a novice, she nervously hosted her first dinner party on her honeymoon with this statement: “If you can read, you can cook.”

They couple lived in Millis and later in Swarthmore, Pa. and Peterborough, N.H., where they raised their children, Chad, Heather and Sara. Her eventual divorce from Ed in the 1980s, as one friend said, meant she blossomed all the more.

She worked as a valued nurse at Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park, Pa. and Monadnock Community Hospital in Peterborough, N.H.. She loved patient care and advocacy, working in the emergency room and surgical intensive care units, encouraging patients to work with her and others as a team member.

In retirement, she moved back to Oak Bluffs. While she found medicine a fascinating and fulfilling profession, she was excited to turn toward volunteering, including at the Second Chance Animal Rescue, Mass Audubon’s Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary for her love of bird watching, and the Martha’s Vineyard Museum.

She wrote articles on Darling’s Store published in The Dukes County Intelligencer. She savored living back in her childhood home on Ocean Park with a view of what she repeatedly stated was not a gazebo but a bandstand. She also treasured summers with the Lake Iroquois community in Hinesburg, Vt.

Carol had a wide-ranging interest in the world and was appreciated for her ability to draw out and value what was special or particular about a person. These two aspects made her cherished for her skill at creating whimsical cards and finding intriguing gifts. Her enthusiasm for travel beyond her beloved Island resulted in trips to 21 countries, from the southern tip of Chile to the mountains of Nepal. She delighted in visiting her children living abroad in Ireland and India.

She is survived by her three children: Sara Dell of Arlington, Heather Dell and civil union partner Pat Langley of Springfield, Ill.., and Chad Dell and wife Eleanor Novek of Neptune City, N.J.; her brother Arne and his wife Vicki Carr of Pocasset; and many nieces, nephews and dear friends.

A celebration of life will be in May at the family home.

In lieu of flowers, donations in her name to: Second Chance Animal Rescue in Oak Bluffs, Mass Audubon’s Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, or the Vermont Loon Conservation Project in Norwich, Vt.