By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
Funeral arrangements have been announced for former Kentucky Gov. Julian Carroll, who died early Sunday morning at Frankfort Regional Medical Center at the age of 92.
Carroll will lie in state at the Kentucky Capitol Rotunda from 10 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. and from 1:30 p.m. until 5 p.m. on Friday. A memorial service will take place from 12:30 p.m. until 1:30 p.m. at the Capitol Rotunda.
Julian Carroll speaking on the Senate floor in 2018. (Photo by Tom Latek, Kentucky Today)
Services will be at Elevate Church in Frankfort on Saturday at 11 a.m. with Rev. Bobby Baker officiating. His burial will follow at Frankfort Cemetery. Military Honors will be conducted at the gravesite by the Kentucky National Guard.
The third of 11 children, Carroll was born in West Paducah on April 16, 1931, to the late Elvie Buster and Eva Heady Carroll.
His journey of public service began with the United States Air Force shortly after graduating from the University of Kentucky Law School in 1956. For three years, he served as an Air Force attorney, then returned to Paducah to practice law.
Carroll served five terms in the Kentucky House of Representatives, including as Speaker of the House from 1968-1970. He was then elected Lieutenant Governor and eventually succeeded Governor Wendell Ford, who resigned after being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1974, before his term as governor ended.
Although in those days Kentucky Governors could not be elected to two consecutive terms, in 1975, Carroll won a full term as governor with a record margin of victory, making him one of the few to serve five consecutive years.
He took on national roles when he served as chairman of the National Governors Association and co-chairman of the Appalachian Regional Commission. Following his service as governor, he received several honorary degrees, and the Purchase Parkway was renamed Julian M. Carroll Parkway.
After leaving office in 1979, Carroll remained in Frankfort to practice law and concluded his public service in the Kentucky Senate, where he served from 2004 to 2020.
In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be made in Julian M. Carroll’s memory to the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center or Murray State University Library, Julian M. Carroll Collection Fund.
