Carol Lynn Barber

Carol is survived by her son Micheal Barber (Evangelina), her daughters Rana Barber and Shalom Shoaf (Richard), her grandchildren Robert (Amanda), Amber, Nathaniel, Enya, Mykala, and Aurora, step-grandchildren Bryan Bass, Andrew McGehee, and Alexander Mwangi, and great-grandchildren Joseph, Addison, Nephi, Shaelynne, Rosalina, and Rivir. She is preceded in death by her husband Ronald Barber and sister Nadine Anderson. Carol and Ron met at Graceland College where Carol was studying to be a nurse and Ron was seeking a degree in religious studies. Ron and Carol were married on October 26, 1964, in Independence, MO in the little Chapel at the RLDS Auditorium.

Carol moved with her parents from Ohio to Raytown, MO when she was a teenager. She attended and graduated from Raytown High School in 1960. After graduating from Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa with a diploma in nursing, Carol worked as an RN at the Independence Sanitarium and Hospital in Independence, MO owned by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. When Ron and Carol decided to have children, Carol chose to stop working full time and dedicate her time to her children. Carol continued to help provide for her family by working from home. She sold Miracle Maid cookware, Avon, Tupperware (earning a station wagon), Omnitrition, and Freelife. She attended home parties and conferences with Ron turning work into mini vacations. When her children got older, Carol returned to work as an RN retiring from Visiting Nurse Association of Kansas City.

Carol was an artist. She painted the oil paintings that hang in her home and made ceramic pottery, often taking classes with her mother who lived down the street. Her favorite painting in her home however was not one that she painte4d. Her favorite painting is of Christ (one of the very last ones that the artist hand colored). Carol and Ron had heard the testimony of the artist, and Ron managed to get a copy from the artist as a wedding present for his bride. Carol, like her mother, was a seamstress and she sewed clothes for her growing children eventually making her daughters prom dresses. She crocheted, and knitted, and sketched, and made floral arrangements, and scrapbooks. Carol was involved in PTA and various school booster programs and committees to support her children. She helped make backdrops and costumes for school performances, table decorations for school functions, flyers and yearbooks, and helped plan school parties and proms.

Carol made sure all 3 of her children could swim, something she never learned to do herself. She took them all to the RLDS Swimming Pool and Campus and left them in the capable hands of Bonnie to teach them to swim. She would usually watch the lessons with the other mothers except when it came to her youngest daughter who decided she was terrified of water. Bonnie was very experienced though and instructed mom to leave her screaming daughter and wait in the car out of sight. Bonnie was right, and Shalom is now the biggest “fish” of us all continuing to be an avid swimmer to this day. Swim lessons eventually morphed into the Campus Swim Team for all 3 children. Carol of course was active at swim meets, in various capacities.

Carol liked to drive. Ron would tell us that mom was a hotrod because she never mastered the art of feathering the clutch instead popping it and squealing the tires (or maybe she just enjoyed doing it). Carol would take her turn driving cross country whenever we traveled. Ron would tell us about the time they were driving back on 24 Highway from visiting family in Michigan for Christmas. Carol was driving and Ron was sleeping in the back seat when he was jerked awake by the sudden whipping back and forth of the rear of the car. Ron would tell us that Carol never lost control but handled the car perfectly after it slipped on that patch of ice and after 3 violent whips, she brought the car safely to a stop…where she immediately turned to Ron and told him that he was driving.

Carol enjoyed working on her home both inside and out. When a tree fell on the back roof and rain damaged the main floor, she took the opportunity to redecorate. She wallpapered, stripped and stained wood trim, painted walls, and remodeled the kitchen. And she taught her children as we worked with her to paint and wallpaper. And she made her home a welcoming place where she could invite friends and family to join us for large holiday meals. One Thanksgiving, the dining room and living room were not finished yet and the dining room table was disassembled. But Carol was going to make Thanksgiving dinner for her family, so we set up the sawhorses, placed a piece of plywood on them, laid a nice tablecloth over it, set out the good china, and celebrated Thanksgiving. Every spring Carol decorated her home outside by planting flowers. She loved her rose bushes. She also planted a variety of Impatiens, Begonias, Sun Coleus, Tulips, Daffodils, Crocus. And she had Lilac bushes, Butterfly bushes, Peonies, apple trees, cherry trees, and a garden with tomatoes, green beans, peppers, corn, lettuce, and squash.

Carol was baptized as a girl in Ohio into the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Growing up she attended youth services at the Kirkland Temple in Kirkland, OH. In Independence, she attended several congregations including Enoch Hill, Sterling Avenue, and Atherton. Carol attended World Conference every 2 years at the Auditorium making many friends from around the world including one of her dearest friends Sheila Bender. Carol loved to entertain and feed guests to her home. One World Conference Sheila and Carol had the whole African delegation over to the house for a lunch of chicken and rice in cream of mushroom soup. Carol loved to attend women’s meetings, retreats, and Bible study groups. She loved sharing about God as well as catching up with her girlfriends. Carol attended the Waldo Avenue Restoration Branch down the street at her death. Carol loved to attend in person, many times making the trip by herself on her personal mobility scooter. When she was (or became) unable to attend in person, she would attend the service by live stream on her Fire Tablet.

Carol and Ron loved to travel, going to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon. And they shared their love of travel with their children. They would load the children into the car, usually with a top carrier covered by a brown canvas tarp, and take a family vacation every summer. One year we had a brown car with a CB radio and could listen to the truck drivers talk. There was a driver who boasted to his buddies about passing a car that looked like a “camel with a huge hump.” We eventually drove to all 48 continental United States camping in a tent along the way. We saw Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, the Redwoods, Pikes Peak, Niagara Falls, all the national historical sites, and of course the church historical sites like Nauvoo, Kirtland, and Palmyra. We learned to set up a tent, build a campfire, and cook over it. We swam in all 5 Great Lakes, the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and the Gulf of Mexico. And while Ron got to hike with the children in the Porcupine Mountains and down into the Grand Canyon, Carol got to enjoy herself by staying in a hotel room with a real bed and relaxing. Carol and Ron took the kids, and later Carol took the grandkids, to Walt Disney World and Silver Dollar City. And they didn’t stop traveling after the kids were grown, eventually making it to all 50 States. Carol and Ron took a 2nd honeymoon to Hawaii, cruised the Inside Passage of Alaska, traversed the Panama Canal, and cruised from New York City to Canada.

Carol loved her children and enjoyed being involved in their lives. She drove her children to Scout meetings, dance classes, piano classes. She helped with Skylarks, Orioles, and O’Teens for the girls. And she made sure to go to all the Boy Scout merit badge ceremonies and Scout Camp Visitors Sundays. Carol always fondly remembered her time in Zion’s League and at church reunions, and she wished the same for her children. She encouraged us to be involved in Zioneers and Zion’s League, and she made time to take us to reunions at Camp Doniphan every year. Carol also attended band and orchestra concerts, sports matches, dance recitals, science fairs, and school plays. And Carol proudly attended her children’s graduations.

Carol was also very happy to be a grandmother. She always wanted to spend time with her grandchildren whether she was playing games with them, reading to them, letting them read to her, or traveling with them. And Carol always welcomed her children’s spouses and their families into her family and home. She continually shared her faith in a loving God to those around her.

Carol had many friends and was respected by those who knew her. She was always ready to serve helping at church, picking grapes for the canning of sacramental wine, helping at youth camps as camp nurse when asked she helped where she could. Carol will be missed by all that knew and loved her.

A visitation for Carol will be held Thursday, April 17, 2025, from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Newcomer's Noland Road Chapel, 509 S Noland Rd, Independence, Missouri 64050. A celebration of life service will be held on Friday, April 18, 2025, from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM at Waldo Avenue Restoration Branch, 819 W Waldo Ave, Independence, Missouri 64050.