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December 10, 1949 – August 30, 2018

Laura Lydecker Carr has passed away due to complications from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) on August 30, 2018 at her home in San Diego County. She is survived by her husband Jeffrey Carr and daughter Charlotte Carr, her brothers Bob and John Lydecker and her sister Nancy Lydecker, as well as her nieces and nephews.

Born in 1949 in Bronxville New York to Garrett and Sally McCormick Lydecker, Laura was a children’s book illustrator and disciple of the spiritual master Gururaj Ananda Yogi. Before moving to San Diego in 2015 with her husband, the artist and educator Jeffrey Carr, she lived most of her life in New England and the East Coast, and her artwork was much inspired by the woods and gardens of New England.

Laura Lydecker’s beautiful and magical illustration work can be seen at her site “Of Mice and Moons” and her illustrated books can be seen on Amazon. She belongs to a distinguished family of artists. Her great grandfather was the famous American illustrator Peter Newell. Her grandfather was the artist Howard McCormick.   Laura received her training as an artist at the Hartford art school and at Parsons School of Design. Her delicate and highly accomplished watercolor illustrations have a magical and enchanted quality. Some of her best work is illustrations of classic children’s stories; Wind in the Willows, The Country Mouse and the City Mouse, The Tooth Fairy and Anna Bear’s First Winter. She was also an accomplished landscape painter, who painted wonderful portraits of cats and fantasy landscapes of New England.

Laura was a very private person, with an intense inner life as a spiritual contemplative and lover of God. She met her guru and spiritual master Gururaj Ananda Yogi in 1984, and was a deeply realized bhakti yogi (the Indian term for a spiritual practitioner who feels an intense love and yearning for the divine). Later in life, she was inspired and sustained by continual immersion in kirtan, especially the music and spirituality of Krishna Das.

Laura was given the spiritual name “Lorieta” by Gururaj Ananda Yogi, who told her that her name means “The Grace of Divinity.” This was exactly her nature. In my thirty-six years of marriage with Lorieta, I never heard her say a cruel or belittling remark, express any desire for revenge or hatred, or deliberately hurt any living being. She was remarkably free from any kind of greed or attachment to money, fame or any kind of selfishness. She was the perfect mother to her daughter Charlotte and a wonderful wife and companion to me. She loved beauty, animals, gardens, and had a delightful sense of whimsy and humor. Her nature was gentleness, love and peace. She never made a fuss or public display of her deep spirituality, and she never formally taught. But she was once asked about her love of God by someone in her meditation group, the American Meditation Society. She stood up, closed her eyes and spread open her arms. The grace of divinity instantly filled the room. Those who know what this means will understand.

Lorieta’s love of the world and of others was expressed though the magic and delicacy of her artwork and in her quiet, intense spirituality. Her purity, talent and her deep contemplative nature inspired many others. Her spiritual journals are treasures, and may at some point be made available to other spiritual practitioners.

-Jeffrey Carr

 

Photos from Laura’s life:

Young Laura with her brothers, sister, mother and father.

Laura and her mother Sally, and cat Alfie Dear.

Laura in her college years, when she attended the Parsons School of Art and Design.

Laura and Jeff Carr on their wedding day.

The Lydecker Family.

Laura’s In-Law Carr Family.

Laura and her daughter, Charlotte.

The Carr family, 1990.

Jeff and Laura.

Laura with Gururaj Ananda Yogi.

Jeff, Laura, Charlotte and Gururaj Ananda Yogi.

Laura.

Laura and her daughter at their home in Narberth, PA.

Laura photographed by Jeff.

Laura and Jeff in Narberth.

Laura and Krishna Das.

Laura and Jeff after moving to California.

The Lydeckers and Carrs in California.

More Lydeckers and Carrs, in La Jolla.

Laura.

Laura at her home in Spring Valley, California.

Laura in California.

Laura and Jeff.

Laura on the 4th of July, 2018.

A life well lived, with much love! Mom will be in our hearts always.

 

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