Carol Jean Dage

1957 - 2025

Carol Jean (Fowler) Dage passed away peacefully in her home on September 22, 2025, after a courageous 11-year battle with cancer. Carol was born on December 2, 1957, to Byron and Laura Jean Fowler and was raised on a farm in rural Knox County Missouri. She was a 1976 graduate of Knox County High School and received her Bachelor of Science in Education from Northeast Missouri State University (Truman) in 1980. Carol continued her education at NMSU and completed her Master of Arts in History Education in 1982. While Carol was in college, she found her true calling while employed in the Special Collections Department of the university library working with the university's many historical artifacts.
On May 19th, 1984, Carol Jean married Thomas G. (Tom) Dage. After their marriage, she joined Tom in the Kansas City area and this is where they made their life together. Upon her arrival in KC, Carol began her employment with the Wyandotte County Historical Museum as an archivist. Among her many duties as archivist, she developed a curriculum guide that focused on the experience of children growing up in the early 1900's in Kansas for use in the Kansas City, KS 4th grade classrooms. In May of 1986, Carol started working at the Liberty Memorial Museum and Archives as the registrar/archivist. In addition to cataloging and prepping objects for museum storage, she prepared museum exhibits and provided research assistance to local, national and international researchers. She is even named in the acknowledgments section of David McCullough's book, Truman, for research assistance provided as he was writing this Pulitzer's prize-winning biography. Carol changed employment to the National Park Service with the Harry S Truman National Historic Site in July of 1989. She began her career with the NPS as the Supervisory Museum Curator in charge of over 53,000 objects dating from 1867 to 1982 from both the Truman Home in Independence and the Truman Farm in Grandview. In addition to preserving the cultural resources at the Park, Carol also served as the NPS Assistant Regional Curator from 2002 -2015 for the Midwest Region. Carol became the Superintendent in 2015. For the past few years, Carol has worked tirelessly on obtaining a new Visitor Center for the Park. At the time of her death, Carol had completed 36 years of service with NPS with plans to retire in January of 2026. Carol was active in the following professional organizations: American Association of Museums, Heritage League of Greater Kansas City, Kansas City Area Archivists and Museum Management Program Council-NPS.

Carol Jean is survived by her husband, Tom; a brother Charles (Lou Ann) Fowler of Tulsa, OK; a sister Sharon (Travis) Knorr of Jefferson City, MO; and a brother-in-law Joe Gully of Albany, Missouri. She is also survived by her nieces and nephews, Alyssa (Jeff) Kamp, Ethan (Kristen Williams) Fowler, Andrea Knorr, Austin Fowler, Savannah Gully, Amy Gully, Evan (Kyle) Fowler-Smith, Thomas Kamp and Caroline Kamp. Carol was proceeded in death by her parents, Byron and Laura Jean Fowler; her sisters, Mary Jane Grizzle and Betsy Lou Gully; and a nephew, Aaron Fowler.

A true selfless person, Carol gave of herself freely to anyone she crossed paths with from the cashiers at her favorite stores, to the servers at any restaurant, to the homeless, to the tomato guy, to her co-workers, family and friends. If you were in Carol's orbit, you were loved and prayed for. One of her mottos was to live life with no regrets. We can all learn from Carol's giving nature and be more kind to others always.

Memorials in Carol Jean's memory are suggested to Susan G. Komen to aid in finding the cure for breast cancer.

Services are under the direction of Hudson-Rimer Funeral Home in Edina MO. Visitation will be held on Saturday October 18, 2025, from 1-2 PM, with her Celebration of Life beginning at 2 PM. Following the service, inurnment will be in Parkview Memorial Gardens, Kirksville, MO.