Georgia Carroll was a supermodel in the 1930s, a Hollywood star in the 1940s, and a Chapel Hill resident from the 1950s until her death in 2011. How did this glamorous young woman end up in Tarheel country? Cookbook author and designer Moreton Neal remembers the late Georgia Carroll Kyser, her generosity, her leadership, and her precisely decorated Christmas tree.

Born and raised in Brookhaven, Mississippi, Moreton Neal learned to cook at her grandmother’s knee, and learned to eat well in New Orleans. With Bill Neal, whom she met and married while they were students at Duke University, she opened La Residence, the first fine-dining restaurant of its kind in North Carolina. After leaving the restaurant business, Moreton wrote a cookbook/memoir entitled Remembering Bill Neal: Favorite Recipes from a Life in Cooking, as well as numerous articles for magazines and other publications. For many years, Moreton was the food editor of Raleigh Metro Magazine, and hosted a lifestyle radio talk show called “Better Living.” She continues to write a recipe column entitled “Joyous Cooking” for Chapel Hill Magazine, and to design interior spaces for her clients.