Rebecca Elizabeth Ashby Carnes

Rebecca Elizabeth Ashby Carnes passed away on Tuesday, July 15, 2025 in Louisville, Kentucky. Rebecca, also called Becky, was born June 5, 1944 in McComb, Mississippi, in her mother’s hometown during World War II. She loved to tell others that she was born on the day that was supposed to be D-Day. She grew up in Bowling Green, Kentucky, her father’s hometown.

As a child in Bowling Green, Rebecca or “Becky” spent many happy hours in the company of her paternal grandmother, "MawMaw". “She was my playmate,” Rebecca would often fondly reminisce. After graduating from Bowling Green High School in 1962, she attended Western Kentucky University. She graduated from WKU in 1966 with a degree in Elementary Education.

In 1964, she met the love of her life, John Carnes, who was also an education major at WKU. Rebecca and her parents would eat at The Branding Iron, a steak restaurant, on Sundays. As a host on Sundays, John would seat the Ashbys at their table. Once sitting, her mother would kick her under the table and say “Rebecca, he’s looking at you and he’s tall!”

A few weeks later, on their first date at Jerry’s Restaurant in Bowling Green, she said a voice told her “Becky Ashby, you’re going to marry him!” Though they only dated a few months, they never forgot about each other.

Her first teaching job in 1966 was teaching on base at Fort Knox at Van Voorhis Elementary School during the Vietnam War. Two weeks after arriving to live on base, John found her on base and proposed. They married on December 23, 1966 in Bowling Green and then started their lives together as a married couple in Mt. Washington, Kentucky, John’s hometown, where John was working as a high school health and physical education teacher and basketball coach.

Becky began teaching sixth grade at the Mt. Washington School in January 1967. Both of them decided to further their education, so in the summers, they would live in Bowling Green to be nearer to WKU so that Becky could pursue her library degree and so that John could pursue his Master’s degree to become a principal.

Becky was an extremely organized person who actually loved math, and ironically the Dewey Decimal system drew her first to the library. However, once she started her coursework, she fell in love with her children’s literature class. Her beloved grandmother MawMaw in Bowling Green used to quote poetry and rhymes to little Becky, and Becky would run to her MawMaw’s house after school to serve MawMaw and her friends beaten biscuits at their book club.

Once her children Laura and Allyson were born back to back in the early 1970’s, she provided her children with a beautiful, enriched childhood. She rocked them together in a platform rocker and read Mother Goose, sang songs to them, stacked building blocks with them on the floor and made batch after batch of homemade play-doh, scented cinnamon and spearmint and colored red and green.

Once she became a wife and mother, she taught herself to cook. And the student became a master chef. The same perfection she applied to the library was incorporated into the kitchen. She was widely renowned for her pies and homemade pie crusts, particularly buttermilk pie…devilled eggs…homemade rolls that her nephews would eat straight from the oven…and peanut butter fudge.

She and John loved to cook together, and they would work as a team not only to cook family meals, but also to host parties and gatherings for family and friends. Like Jesus fed the 5000, she could miraculously feed not only her immediate family but also her extended family as well as countless sleepovers she hosted for her daughters and their friends. She took care of everyone, in sickness and in health, family and friends both.

Another way that Becky welcomed others and joined them together was through laughter. Her daughter’s friends and her own friends loved to be near her to share in her bubbly personality, bright spirit and quick wit. She could walk into a room and get everyone laughing. She was beautiful and funny, just like Lucille Ball.

A multi-talented woman and a busy bee always working, she shared her love for others in many ways. She knitted beautiful afghans, scarves and hats. She sewed clothes and mended items. She cross stitched pillows and wall hangings. She wrote in beautiful calligraphy, often giving new mothers Mother Goose books with their babies’ names inscribed by her own perfect pen. Not only did she gift her creations to others, she taught many her skills, including teaching her granddaughter to sew.

Later in life, she and John created beautiful memories for their grandchildren. They worked puzzles, played games, read books, hid stuffed animals in basement scavenger hunts, baked cookies, sang songs and took trips together. Her oldest grandson christened her with the grandmother name “Gunny” and it stuck! It sounded like Granny and rhymed with funny.

Her vibrant personality was a perfect complement to quiet and peaceful John. She strove to entertain him every day. In response to her shenanigans, he would grin, shake his head and say “Never a dull moment.” They were the ultimate team and did every thing together. Whereas he had many creative ideas, she was the discipline behind the scenes that brought the ideas to fruition. They especially treasured their times travelling, their times with family and friends, and their time going to church together.

After John passed in 2020, Becky missed him greatly every day. However, she was an incredibly strong person and made it through the last four and a half years independently. She maintained old friendships and forged new ones. She was a bright light to her many friends as well: sharing recipes, going to UK basketball and football games, playing cards, going to lunch.

Through it all, her family and her private faith was her focus. She continued to take care of her children and grandchildren until the last days of her life, and even continues to take care of them from heaven.

Becky is preceded in death by her beloved husband, John Carnes; and her parents, Robert Ashby and Elizabeth (Watson) Ashby; and her maternal aunt, Margaret (Watson) Munn; and many Pomeranian dogs, especially her beloved dog Taffy.

Becky is survived by her daughters, Laura Carnes Kane and Allyson Bagley (Paul); three grandchildren, Connor Kane, JP Bagley, Paige Bagley; sister, Marilyn (Ashby) Monin; and two grand-dogs, a Havanese, Dolly Parton Bagley, and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Louie Carnes Kane.

A memorial will start with visitation from 11am to 1pm on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, with a celebration of Becky's life to follow at 1pm...all at Middletown Christian Church, 500 N. Watterson Trail, Louisville, Kentucky 40243.

The family requests that contributions in Becky's memory be made to Dreams With Wings of Louisville, Kentucky by visiting www.dreamswithwings.org.

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