Carol Rae Bailey was born to Mary Ann McCarty and Russell Martin Bailey on February 21, 1938, in Macon County Missouri. She was raised on a farm near Ethel, Missouri, and in 1956 graduated from Ethel High School. After attending a revival, she was baptized at the age of fourteen in the Ethel Lake.
Carol attended Missouri State Teachers College from 1956 to 1960. During some of the college summers she worked at Yellowstone National Park in lodging reservations. She graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in business education and a certificate in junior high English. Carol’s first teaching experience was at Flowing Wells School District in Tucson, Arizona where she taught junior high English.
Carol married Jerrald ‘Jerry’ Wayne Matlick in 1962 and they settled in Lincoln, Nebraska. On June 10, 1962, Carol and Jerry welcomed their daughter, Natalie Michelle.
In 1963 the family relocated to Bucklin, Missouri, where Carol taught business and Jerry served in the role of physical education teacher, coach, and eventually, high school principal. Their son, Vincent Wayne, was born May 10, 1965. Both Carol and Jerry received their master’s degrees, Carol’s in education.
Carol and Jerry purchased a home with 17 acres west of New Cambria, Missouri. Their summers were spent enjoying their property and taking family vacations exploring the United States. Carol loved planning out their travel itineraries and managed to create educational experiences in each trip. She and Jerry were members of the Bucklin Christian Church. Their faith was their foundation in life. She loved to cook and bake always experimenting with new recipes. Starting in early childhood she found the love of reading and continued reading throughout her life.
Carol’s passion was teaching and making a difference in her student’s lives. She built a stellar reputation for her teaching at Bucklin R-II School where she taught Business from 1963 to 1992.
After Jerry’s passing in 1986, Carol continued teaching, retiring from Marceline Public Schools in 1995. That same year, Carol married John Edwin Smith of Brookfield, Missouri. They were married at Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming before retiring to their new home in Brookfield for the next twenty-five years. They wintered in Tucson, Arizona and then in San Angelo, Texas during many of those 25 years. During retirement she enjoyed her granddaughter, family, her faith, her sisters in PEO, playing Mah Jong and their dog, Ben.
Carol’s granddaughter, Madisyn Jewel, was born July 2, 2005. She had waited a long while to be a grandmother and took that role very seriously. She loved attending, Madisyn’s music recitals and cheering her on at softball and basketball games. Carol had grown up playing the piano and when Madisyn started taking piano lessons, one of her favorite things was listening to Madisyn play for her.
Carol was preceded in death by her parents, Russell and Mary Ann Bailey, husband Jerry, and husband John. She is survived by daughter Michelle Shiver of Memphis, Tennessee, son Vince Matlick, daughter-in-law Wendi, and granddaughter Madisyn, of Weston, Missouri, sister Sherrill Sears of Nixa, Missouri, sister Glenda Littrell, and brother Stan Bailey both of Macon, Missouri.
Funeral service will be held Friday, January 2, 2026, at 2 pm at the Ethel Christian Church in Ethel, MO. Burial will follow in the Bell Cemetery near Ethel, MO. Visitation will be Friday afternoon from 1 pm until the time of the service. Memorial donations can be made to the Bell Cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of Delaney Funeral Home in Marceline, MO.
Source: KMZU, The Farm
