A memorial service is being planned for early next year for Carol Bly. She died of ovarian cancer on Friday at the age of 77. Bly is being remembered as an exemplary writer and an excellent mother. She was a fiction writer, essayist and creative writingA memorial service is being planned for early next year for Carol Bly. She died of ovarian cancer on Friday at the age of 77. Bly is being remembered as an exemplary writer and an excellent mother . She was a fiction writer, essayist and creative writing teacher. Carol Bly was born in Duluth, but spent part of her childhood living with her aunts in rural North Carolina because her mother was often hospitalized. Bly talked about her mother during an interview with Dan Olson in March of 1999.