Town Manager John Carroll Celebrates Quiet Father’s Day With 18 Children-This Day In Norwood History-June 17, 1985

Local Administrator Navigates Post-Fire Recovery And Realities Of Raising Eighteen Children

For Carroll, 57, who serves as the town manager of Norwood and is a former state public works commissioner, Father’s Day is typically a stampede due to the 18 children in his family. He is a natural father, stepfather, and adoptive father to 11 boys and seven girls who range in age from 10 to 31.

His wife, Penny Carroll, 44, a gospel singer, insists that the kids give him gifts, which usually amounts to “lots of shaving cream,” according to Carroll. He and his family are currently living temporarily in two house trailers next to their 10-bedroom, Tudor-style house that burned down on Dec. 26. Eight of the 18 children currently live in the trailers, while others live with older brothers and sisters now on their own. Reflecting the tight bonds of the household, 17 of the 18 children showed up for Christmas, and the 18th, a son living in Key West, Fla., flew back home two days after the destructive fire.

Carroll and his wife were married in November 1977. He had six children from his first marriage, which ended in November 1976 with the death of his first wife, Marilyn Carroll, from cancer; four of those children were adopted. Penny Carroll brought eight children to the household from her first marriage, all born by the time she was 28. Since their marriage, the Carrolls have further expanded their household by adopting a boy and three girls.

Carroll noted that he initially adjusted with difficulty to the role of stepfather. “I visualized myself as being their father,” he said. Tension arose when their natural father reappeared, remarried, and began living three miles away from the Carroll home. “The kids began to see him more regularly,” Carroll recalled. “I felt jealous that he came back on the scene, and they viewed him as their father. I finally began to realize that I’m never going to be their father, that I’m going to be their stepfather. When I accepted that role, a lot of the tension that existed between me and Penny’s children ceased.”

Today, Carroll observes that the dynamics have leveled out. “The kids get along. Everybody doesn’t love each other perfectly, by any means. Even in a family of two children, the relationships are not perfect.” Carroll supports his large household on the $58,000 salary he earns as town manager, supplemented by some state aid for the four foster children they adopted. Penny Carroll contributes approximately $1,200 annually singing at weddings and other social functions. Despite the massive head count, Carroll figures the family efficiently manages to spend about $200 weekly on food.