Carol Bounds

Carol Sue Matthews Bounds, 82, passed away peacefully and surrounded by love on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. She was born in southeast Missouri on Dec. 17, 1943, to her late parents, Gerald and Opal Matthews.

Where many people become increasingly insular as they age, Carol became more expansive, more understanding, more embracive of different ideas and appreciative of other cultures. She was a woman of faith, but in many ways also a Humanist, deeply supportive of her children, friends, and family and always encouraging them to reach their highest potential.

She was never easy to pigeonhole, always venturing far beyond what people expected from her. Carol was a beauty queen with depth and kindness, an accomplished pianist and musician who loved learning and the sciences, as demonstrated by her two degrees: a Bachelor of Science in Sociology and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, both earned at Missouri State University.

Her careers were diverse, spanning from working as a secretary for the Poplar Bluff Police Department before being promoted to Special Assistant to the Mayor, to working as a typist for an engineering firm and for the United States Postal Service for a postmaster she greatly admired – C. Arch Bay. She also loved being an educator and would speak often of "her kids" that she taught and loved when she worked for the Springfield Public School System at Bissett Elementary School.

Notably, she worked as a chemist for a pharmaceutical research company and helped develop the very same diabetes medications she would one day use.

Of all her work, the job she most loved was motherhood. She made her three children Mark, John, and Jana homemade Halloween costumes, chicken and dumplins when they were sick, she helped them with homework and made homemade biscuits nearly every Saturday. Those biscuits were some of the few things of which she didn't succeed. But her husband and children loved her so much they ate biscuits you could break a tooth on for years, gently trying to stop the biscuit production by doing things like hiding the biscuit cutter and flour. Now, her kids would give almost anything to eat a terrible biscuit again.

Carol was an animal lover to her core, tending to various pets and wild critters over her lifetime, including horses, dogs, cats, parakeets, a three-legged deer, hummingbirds and she would weed her garden with her daughter's potbelly pig by her side. She loved nature and taught her children the joys of camping from an early age. She loved baseball and would attend Springfield Cardinals games with her husband, children, grandchildren and close friends.

Genealogy became a point of fascination later in life, with years of research and information shared and traded with family around the nation. She was delighted to discover her relation to Mary Draper Ingles, who famously escaped the Shawnee in 1755, after being kidnapped by a war party, held captive, and forced into slavery. Her stance was that if Mary could do all she did, her family would be equally as capable of facing the difficulties of life.

Carol was preceded in death by her sister JoAnn, who died in a tragic car accident at 18 years old. This made her more protective, more demonstrative of affection, and taught her to treat every goodbye with deep love and a sense of reverence.

She was also preceded by her parents, her beloved cousins Joyce and Sharon, and by her "Ol Billy B" – her husband and best friend of 50 years, William Jefferson Bounds.

She left a great void in the world by her departure and her family have vowed to honor her fully by maintaining her legacy of kindness, learning, and love as best they can.

She lives on in her grandchildren: Amanda Bounds (Mark), Braeden "Brady" Bounds (John), Connor Bounds (John), and Ellie Bounds (John).

A quote found written in her script (echoing sentiments from author Clayton Christensen) after her death well sums up how she lived:

"You measure a life by more than just birthdays. You measure it by people whose lives you've touched and who have touched yours. You measure it by learning and loving and living and how much of yourself you put into those things."

In lieu of flowers the family asks that you please honor her by donating to her favorite charity, The Salvation Army.

Condolences and fond memories may be shared below.