Mary Carol Maker, beloved matriarch and wonderful friend, left this world to resume her role of loving wife on January 27, 2023. She was born July 3, 1923, in St. Joseph, Missouri, to John W. Baker and Mayme L. Fisher.
Mary met her husband of 68 years at Rosecrans Memorial Airport, where she was the secretary to Signal Corps Captain Bob Maker. They lived in St. Joseph and in Lake Crystal, Minnesota. Mary attended Huffman United Methodist Church for over 70 years with her husband, and then First Christian Church with her daughter’s family.
Mary had a passion for gardening. From flowers to vegetables, she cultivated beauty for the eye and for the palate. She enjoyed traveling, and her favorite destination was Hawaii. A lifetime lover of reading, Mary was a librarian at Missouri Western for 25 years. Mary also loved playing games like cribbage, mahjong and Ticket to Ride. One of the few joys of the Pandemic was discovering the Ticket to Ride app, which allowed her to play online with family from Portland to Guatemala to New York.
Dancing was Mary’s favorite pastime. At their farm in Minnesota, Mary and Bob even sanded the hayloft in their barn to create a dance floor for friends and neighbors! In later years, they enjoyed the dances at the Senior Citizens Center.
Amidst all these life-affirming activities, Mary’s first priority was loving her family, and she was equally loved by generations before and after her. Mary is survived by three daughters: Carol Pittman (Mike) of St. Joseph, Gloria Maker of Guatemala, and Milly Acuff (Mike) of Columbia, Missouri; eight grandchildren: Ann Zarate (Manuel), Amy Pittman (Dan Rocha), Emily Garcia (Israel), Ruth Acuff (Jeff Mueller), Mary Leibovich (Tim), Robbie Acuff, Silas Acuff (Julia), and Susan Acuff (Nyima); and nine great-grandchildren: Jacob, Peter, and Katie Leibovich, Shaffer Zarate, Charlotte and Olivia Rocha, Naomi Acuff, Leroy Mueller, and Luca Garcia.
The family invites you to join in celebrating the life of Mary Carol Maker on March 11, 2023, at First Christian Church in St. Joseph at 10:30 a.m.
