Carolle Ann Skov

Carolle Ann Skov, was born on August 30, 1940 in Buhl, Idaho, but she often said that her real birthday was April 1, 1947, the day she was formally adopted by Clarence and Hazel Boeck Larson. She died peacefully in her family home on May 28, 2025 of congestive heart failure after a short term on hospice. She was 84 years old.

Carolle (also known as Skov, Mara’s Mom, Ma, and Baba) is survived by her daughter Mara Holt Skov of San Francisco, California and grandson Larson Skov Holt of Larkspur, California, members of her Larson/Boeck/Mather/Regan adopted family, and a multitude of friends from all the stages of her life that she considered her chosen family.

Carolle lived a life of many passions and everyone would agree that, as the Frank Sinatra song goes, she did it “My Way.” Over the course of her life, she loved (in no particular order) – the daily crossword, skiing the back side at Bogus Basin, Tuesday night Jeopardy with the Knowlton family, trimming roses and irises in her garden, designing sets and props at the Boise Little Theater, Howie Boardwalk, talking to strangers in line at the grocery store, Broadway showtunes and Hank Williams, traveling to several continents and countries, rum and orange juice, Franzia and cigarettes, batik outfits from Grenada, and especially telling stories about her life and adventures to visitors on the porch of her beloved family home.

Carolle loved and was loved by so many people and her family of friends extended in so many directions it was sometimes hard to follow. Her Larson, Boeck, Mather, Regan family, both older and younger generations, added so much to her life from the moment she was adopted by Clarence and Hazel from the Boise Children’s Home with her little sister Linda. Then, over three decades later in the 1980s, her family expanded even more when her older birth sister Sylvia was able to fulfill her mission to reunite all six of their siblings. Carolle stayed close to Sylvia and their sister Sue for the rest of their lives.

In addition, there were the Boise High friendships she maintained for nearly 70 years as a longtime organizer of the reunion committee. Many of those friends continued on to Boise Junior College with her. There were the folks in the Boise Little Theater community that embraced her from the first moment she walked into the greenroom in 1967 and who, in 2020, awarded her the title of Lifetime Patron. There was the tightknit sisterhood of social workers she met when she went to work in child protection in the 1960s after her divorce from Mara’s father Arny. She formed another extended family of Grenadian and American friends when she entered the Peace Corps just before her fiftieth birthday to do the “toughest job you’ll ever love” as the Peace Corps motto claimed.

Carolle appreciated the way that travel connects people across the world and she said that her bag was always packed to fly anywhere the next plane was headed – New York for Broadway plays and city culture, Grenada in the West Indies for the pristine white sand beaches and Carib beer, multiple European countries with different traveling companions over the years, China with Mara and Larson to fulfill a childhood dream to walk on the Great Wall, and countless trips to the misty Oregon coast. But she always came back to Boise, Idaho, her hometown, and the little stucco house that had been a part of her life since the time when she was adopted.

Many people helped fulfill Carolle’s wish to age in place in her home where she died peacefully surrounded by family treasures and memories. Mara and Larson are so grateful for everyone who enriched their Mom and Baba’s life, made her happy, and expanded their family far beyond its original form. Three friends deserve special mention for their support in the past several years as her needs grew — Vicki Covelli for her loyalty and compassion, Dick Jamison for his counsel and conscience, and cousin Mike Mather for accompanying her on her final trip to Grenada in January 2025.

Here’s a toast to Carolle who lived her life the way she chose and left us with no regrets.