Carol Ayers

The “Jr.” made you roll your eyes. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, your namesake parents Carol (nee Langfitt) and Norval W. Ayers III moved you and your brother Norval to San Francisco early in your life, and the city claimed you. Its vibrancy, strong social conscience, jazz scene—the mad beauty of it all—flowed into your veins. You graduated from Lowell, then SF State where you were a student activist and later part of the civil rights struggle. You developed a fierce independence (why must independence always be so fierce?) and an attention to detail that showed up in your love for gardens, tastefully decorated spaces, and fine old things. You researched and wrote a book about the Fillmore, focusing on your friend Minnie Baker’s Can-Do Club, that documented the people and the street before it “disappeared into a collection of high priced boutiques.” Your blunt directness was tempered by your open hearted generosity—to the many feral cats you gently coaxed with your devotion, and to anyone you sensed could use a helping hand. You worked as a vocational rehabilitation counselor and consultant. Late in that career you were claimed again. This time by the drum. The San Francisco Taiko Dojo awakened a passion in you for Japanese drumming that led to the creation of two other groups, Taiko Spirit and Taiko Sisters, and eventually to the establishment of Kotobuki Taiko—a group for seniors that began with seven people at the Stonestown Y Annex in 2008. Seventeen years later it grew to 70 and you were recognized with a Jefferson Award for Public Service given to “ordinary people doing extraordinary things.” You always had a knack for gathering strangers together and conjuring up community. Cancer was your executioner. Death claimed you. You were beloved.

Cremation has taken place with ashes to be scattered at sea by the Neptune Society. Donations in Carol’s memory may be made to: Muttville (muttville.org),

SF Animal Care and Control (sfanimalcare.org), Adopt a Native Elder (anelder.org)