November 24, 1950 – May 21, 2015

My brother Carl was born on November 24, 1950, in Salem Hospital, Salem, Massachusetts. At the time, my parents were living at 3 Bowden St. in Marblehead with my sister (age 1 1/2) and me (age 3). At this point, with 3 young children to take care of, Dad’s career at GE unfolding, and plans for building a new house underway, my parents were understandably busy, but Dad did find time for the usual home printed photo Christmas card, announcing Carl’s birth. During the following year, the house on Marblehead Neck was built, with Dad doing a lot of the work on weekends and Mom managing the kids on the site. We moved in January, 1952. 

During the following years, we had a pretty typical 1950’s childhood, with other kids in the neighborhood and a lot of freedom to roam along with our dog Bête. In the summer, there was the bird sanctuary across the street and the beach down the street. In the winter there was a little skating pond near our house and a larger one in the bird sanctuary. And we could sled down the hill on the street in front of the house. 

As we got older, we all got into scouting and Mom was Carl’s Cub Scout den mother. We also got into sailing with the Pleon Yacht Club’s program for young people. Carl (like his Dad) turned out to be an excellent sailor and won many races in the Sprites. We all also spent Saturdays in Cambridge at the Longy School where Mom had resumed her teaching career, although I heard many years later that Carl actually hated the clarinet! We had to ride the bus into town for school as the kids from the Neck always got parceled out to the local schools until we got to Jr. and Sr. High.

In high school, Carl got into cross country running, and he was also in the marching band. He continued to enjoy local pond hockey skating and, when the whole family took up skiing, he was the one who was actually good at it. We spent winter vacations in North Conway, and many weekends at the ski areas in New Hampshire. In the summer, there was always sailing, and at some point, Carl got a 110 class boat of his own, which he maintained and raced for a few years. Also, after he got his driver’s license, he took a part-time job delivering for a local pharmacy.

Carl graduated from Marblehead High School in 1968 and was admitted to Tufts University in the engineering program. He graduated in 1972, with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering, as a civil engineering major. He got a job working for the City of Boston- issuing waste water permits, which I remember him saying was not very interesting. He had his eye on bigger things and, in 1974, he drove off in his little green BMW with a mattress on the roof, headed to Boulder, Colorado, where he had been admitted to a 3-year Master’s Degree program in Architecture at the University of Colorado.

Letters home from Colorado were full of Carl’s enthusiasm for the mountains, hiking, skiing, and bicycling. He managed to find places to live and roommates, and part time jobs to help with living expenses- mostly bar tending. He found time to play hockey and joined an intramural team called the “Armadillos”. But primarily, he worked hard at his studies. He learned architectural design and construction principles, and filled sketch books with design ideas. He wrote a paper on Buckminster Fuller and developed an interest in Frank Lloyd Wright that influenced his later work. He was also influenced by Japanese art and design, maybe going back to Mom’s Japanese garden, and her interest in bonsai. He was also interested in energy efficiency and passive solar design and in using computer software for modeling and rendering.

After Carl graduated from his program, he found work as a designer for the McStain company, a husband and wife partnership that built houses on spec, and he began to experiment with custom designs. I remember once, visiting a job site and him explaining how he considered the sight lines and views in his plans. In 1986, he decided to start his own business “Rohde Design,” building custom homes in Boulder County and beyond. He also met and married Kathy Walrath, originally from Minnesota that year. Trained as an accountant, she became an indispensable part of the business.

Carl was an avid skier and fly-fisherman in his spare time and had several close friends that he could share those interests with. He and Kathy invested in a town house in Winter Park with another couple. Carl bought a drift boat and took it to his favorite rivers for fishing and he enjoyed tying his own flies.

Along with other designs, Carl began to formulate ideas on building his own house, and found a suitable lot near Boulder. By this time, he was using Achicad, a computer-aided design program to generate plans and 3-D models of his projects. He sent home photos of the computer modeling and construction updates, which I was quite interested in. The house featured an interior courtyard with a pond for koi, a waterfall, and Japanese style landscaping. Large rocks had to be lifted in by a crane, and he even had a water-feature specialist “tune” the waterfall!

During most of these years, unfortunately, we didn’t stay in touch except through our parents. In Mom’s boxes, I found many of the letters Carl wrote to Mom and Dad, so I know he kept in touch with them.They visited Carl and Kathy in Colorado at least once. There were also occasional family visits in Marblehead. No doubt Carl was mystified and put off by what I was into at the time, but we avoided talking about it and enjoyed family reunions, sometimes with Grandma Rohde there too.

Carl came to Marblehead when Mom was ill, and when she died in 1995, we all gathered around. That Christmas, Dad decided to visit Carl in Boulder. In the summer of 1996, Dad, Kirsten and I joined Carl and Kathy in Colorado to celebrate Dad’s 80th birthday. That was the first time I got to see Carl’s house in Boulder and I was very impressed. Carl and I also took Dad up to RMNP on that trip. It was good to get together, but we were all sad.

In the summer of 2000, Kirsten, Carl, and I planned a small-ship cruise around Glacier Bay in Alaska with Dad. It turned out to be a wonderful trip and Dad enjoyed it very much, especially the kayaking! In 2003, Kathy and Carl visited Dad in Peabody, after he had moved to Brooksby Village and I came down to say hello. Dad passed away the following year and various family members including Carl came and visited during that time. We had a memorial gathering at Brooksby and also a graveside commemoration.

In August, 2009, I came back from visiting Kirsten and stopped in Colorado to see Carl and Kathy. During that visit, we went up to Winter Park and spent a day on the river in the drift boat. On the way back to Boulder, we went through RMNP and stopped at the headwaters of the Colorado River, where Carl did some fishing and let me try out his new custom bamboo fly rod- a special memory, seeing him in action! In August, 2010, both Kirsten and I came for a visit and we went to Winter Park again. Unfortunately, no drift-boating because it rained!

In the summer of 2011, Carl let me know that he had been diagnosed with lymphoma and, after visiting Kirsten, I met Bill in Colorado. Carl took us on a lovely hike to Columbine Lake and after that Bill and I went on a car-camping trip through RMNP, borrowing Carl’s tent and equipment. A highlight of that trip was a hike to Chasm Lake in the shadows of Long’s Peak. Carl, of course, had been there before on fishing trips and loaned us his topo maps with his penciled notations of fish he had caught. When I got home, I made Carl a fish quilt, featuring trout fabric I found in Marden’s.

After treatments in the fall, it turned out that Carl would be needing a bone marrow transplant. Fortunately, they were able to find a donor, since neither Kirsten or I were a good match. The transplant took place in the spring of 2012. At this point Kathy and Carl were in the process of divorcing and Kathy had moved to a new development in Longmont. They had decided that Carl could use her new house as a place for the weeks-long rehab that follows a transplant, with all of the necessary precautions. Kirsten and I agreed to alternate visits to help out and to accompany him on medical visits.

So began a series of visits to Colorado in April, May, and June, 2012, each several weeks long. I appreciated Bill’s company for a lot of that time, and we enjoyed some short hikes, and drives with Carl. We also did a lot of exploring around Longmont on bikes and enjoyed the public art installations everywhere. We encouraged Carl to get out as much as possible and he took to outdoor sketching. Every where we went, I enjoyed the views of Long’s Peak and took too many photos! Finally in June, Carl was well enough to return to his house in Boulder. During our June visit, we witnessed some of the serious wildfires from that summer on a drive up to Estes Park.

Carl had decided to put the house up for sale and move, and I offered to help. So, in January, 2013, I went to Colorado to help him move to an apartment in Prospect Park, an eclectic planned development south of Longmont, featuring quirky architecture. I enjoyed walking around taking pictures and catching views of Long’s Peak in the distance. To say thank you, Carl gave me a beautiful print of a river canyon by a favorite local artist. Carl set up his office and seemed to be doing well. He had also bought a condo in Winter Park, after letting go of the town house.

In the summer of 2013, Carl came to visit me in Portland, where I had moved into an East End apartment with a view of the water. We enjoyed sailing with Bill, a visit to Ft. Williams and lobster rolls with Rachel and the girls, a trip to the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, and other local sights. Kirsten also came to visit that summer, and I remember it was very hot!

Unfortunately, in the fall, Carl was not doing well, and required more chemo. By the the end of the year, they were considering a difficult regime, requiring a week in the hospital for each treatment. Realizing he would be needing more help, Carl decided to move again, into a larger house with space for me or Kirsten to stay. I agreed to fly out in late December to help Carl get settled in a rented house in Longmont near Lake MacIntosh, a large but shallow lake with a full view of Long’s Peak in the distance.

Bill joined me in early January. When it turned colder and snowed, he even shoveled off a small skating rink on the lake! Although concerned for Carl, I enjoyed being there and went out often either walking or bicycling around the lake, appreciating how the weather and the view changed every day, and taking too many photos! We went into the Denver Art Museum and Bill visited a cannabis store as soon as it became legal!

We also took a drive over the pass in a snowstorm to Winter Park, where Carl wanted to check in a house under construction that he had designed. We had lunch with Brad, a contractor Carl had worked with on many projects, and his wife Julie. We also drove to C Lazy U Ranch, where another of Carl’s houses was being built. The one was much larger and featured a huge vaulted “great room”.

Kirsten came to Colorado after I returned home, and then I returned in March. Unfortunately the news was not great. The treatments were not effective and they were investigating clinical trials and researching other options. In June, I met Carl at Dana Farber in Boston, but they had no easy solutions to offer. In July, I came out to Colorado and was there at the same time as Kirsten. Sarah visited too, as she was living up in St. Mary’s at that time. I think Carl was very discouraged at that point. However he hung on and tried to remain optimistic and to continue working. He had found a small lake nearby where he could rent a sailboat and took us out!

In early 2015, I had quite a few phone conversations with Carl about planning for a new house we hoped to build in Freeport and he even sent me some sketches for ideas. “No project is too small!” he joked, when I asked if he would help. It was not possible for him to work on it any further, but he was very helpful as a sounding board. I am grateful that he insisted that we hire an architect to design the house. Following his advice, it turned out very well. Although the house is more traditional looking than Carl’s designs, I think he would be pleased with the way it sits on the site, the layout of the rooms, the energy efficiency, and the attention to details.

Carl was not doing well and had been in the hospital for surgery, so I went back to Colorado in April for a couple of weeks. Kirsten came after me so I could go home for John’s MFA graduation from UMO. I was planning to return when Kirsten told me that, after serious conversations, Carl had decided to let go of any further treatments. I hurried back with a one-way ticket, and was there with her when Carl passed away on May 21, 2015. A few days earlier, we had some of Carl’s friends over, and he also had a ride in a stylish Mercedes convertible with his special friend Beth. We sent Carl off in his favorite fishing attire and I gave the fish quilt to Kathy.

It was very hard to let him go and I remember taking many slow walks around the lake. I happened to run into the people who lived in the house Carl had designed on the lakeshore which I had admired every time I passed. They invited me in and showed me around. Very FLW, I thought, with gorgeous views across the lake to the mountains. The next few days were spent in helping to sort and pack Carl’s things and for Kathy to help with his work in progress which he was passing along to a colleague.

After all we had been through, Kirsten had an idea for us to go away somewhere together and found a BNB in Oceanside, Oregon, advertised in a book at Carl’s. That was the beginning of many trips to that same place over the years and a friendship with the owners. In June, I returned to Maine and summer activities, but I remember spending a lot of time by the ocean, looking out at the horizon and feeling sad. In August, we returned to Colorado to scatter Carl’s ashes with friends at Chipmunk Gulch near Ward, one of his favorite fishing spots. After that we went to Winter Park for a few days with Kirsten, and visited with Brad and Julie. Carl had been in the process of designing a home for them and they spoke highly of his work over the years. After that we drove through RMNP on a beautiful sun-and-clouds day before heading home.

Kirsten and I still remember Carl (and so does Beth), and we reflect on how it seemed that, right at the end of his life, he was changing. His 2 great loves were architecture and fishing, but he had reflected that he had been too focused on work, at times. However, he designed beautiful homes for people that were really appreciated by their owners and the people he worked with expressed great admiration for his talents. I just wish he’d had more time to slow down a bit and enjoy his life and accomplishments.

Here are many more photos from Carl’s life.

Here is Carl’s “Rohde Design” web site, showcasing some of his designs.

“100 Views of Long’s Peak“, taken from many visits to Colorado ( in the spirit of Hokusai’s “100 Views of Mt. Fuji”)