Carol Karg

Carol Ann Karg, 68, of Pleasant Hill, Missouri, was born Saturday, January 17, 1942 at St. Lukes Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, the fifth of seven children to Clifford A. and Esta E. (Raffurty) Karg. She departed this life at 1:01 p.m. on Thursday, January 21, 2010 at the Cass Medical Center, Harrisonville.

Carol Ann, when she was born, was a very healthy happy baby with dark black hair and was very active and quick to learn. She also had a very inquisitive mind and loved red dresses. At the age of about two and a half she contacted what was at the time diagnosed as polio and became a very sick little girl. She had very high fevers and often went into convulsions. She spent some time in the hospital in Kansas City. At the time our Father was, as they used to say, somewhere in the Pacific during World War II. As Carol Ann required full time care our grandmother Elizabeth "Lizzy" Raffurty came to stay with us and care for Ronnie who was an infant. Our grandmother stayed with us until our father returned from the Navy in November, 1945.

Our mother provided a lot of care for Carol Ann by giving her ice baths when her fever was high, calmed her when she had the convulsions and spent hours working with her arms and legs to strengthen them and restore the use of her muscles. During all of this Carol Ann would scream and cry as it must have hurt. Her learning abilities were also diminished. Today she would most likely be classed as developmentally disabled. Due to her efforts Carol Ann was able to learn to walk again and soon could run and play with the rest of us kids. Carol Ann also had to learn to write using her left hand as the result of the polio she became an epileptic often having convulsions.

She was able to go to school and started the first grade at Center Point school north of Pleasant Hill and graduated from the Pleasant Hill High School in 1961.

As a result of her illness she found employment caring for others and enjoyed working with older people and making their life easier. She visited her Aunt Dorothy Raffurty everyday - while she was at Broadway Village and visited with other patients, many of whom she had cared for earlier.

Travel was fun for her and she visited many scenic sites in the United States with her parents. She also did a lot of hand work making quilts, pillow cases and embroidery. She loved to read her bible, and church books and Sunday school lessons. Her greatest quality was that she loved her family.

She was a member of the Strasburg Baptist Church.

She was preceded in death by both of her parents, two sisters, Betty Jean and Mary Ellen and one brother Charles Alvin who all died as infants.

She is survived by three brothers and their wives, Jim and Ginger Karg of Gridley, California, Ron and Margie Karg of Pleasant Hill; and Paul and Laura Karg of Babson Park, Florida.

Funeral Services were held Thursday, January 28, 2010 at the Stanley-Dickey Funeral Home. Mr. Bill Cotton, deacon of Big Creek Baptist Chruch officiated. Burial was in Pleasant Hill Cemetery. Casket bearers were Gene Hon, David Hughes, Buddy Karg, Greg Karg, Larry Karg and Richard Raffurty.

Memorial contributions are suggested to the Strasburg Baptist Church and may be sent in care of the funeral home.