Carolyn Ann Barnes Bond

Carolyn Ann Barnes Bond died on August 23, 2026, at the age of 87. She was a Texas girl through and through. She loved bluebonnets and got excited every spring when they started to bloom. She loved her family. She loved football season. She loved her friends. She loved the Lord.

Carolyn was born April 15, 1939, in Falfurrias, Texas, and spent most of her early years there, with some time in Corpus Christi before her family moved to Austin when she was in middle school. As a girl she loved being outdoors, riding her bike, and her two cats, Impy and Wimpy.

She started at Austin High School in 1953, where she was an A student, a member of the drill team, and made friends she kept for the rest of her life. One of her legendary stories came out of those years: on the weekend in 1956 she took the train from Austin to Dallas to see Elvis Presley perform at the Cotton Bowl. She told that story for decades, and nobody ever got tired of hearing it.

Carolyn graduated from Austin High in 1957 and enrolled at the University of Texas as an early childhood education major. She joined Gamma Phi Beta and, as always, got involved in everything — and made more lifelong friends. In her junior year, her older sister set her up on a blind date with Al Bond. They were married on January 28, 1961, and celebrated their 65th anniversary this past January.

After she graduated from UT in 1961, Al was commissioned in the U.S. Army and they moved to Fort Gordon, Georgia, where Carolyn took a job teaching. Two years later they came back to Austin, because she was ready to get back to her Texas roots, and their first son, Chris, was born. They spent a year in Odessa, then returned to Austin for the birth of their second son, Michael.

In 1965 they moved to Friendswood, Texas, for Al's job with NASA. Carolyn raised two young boys in a place full of fire ants, rattlesnakes and pine trees, and she loved every minute of it. To no one's surprise, she made lifelong friends there too. It was in Friendswood that the family began attending the Presbyterian church in Nassau Bay. Carolyn knew from her own upbringing that the church was the right place to raise a family.

In 1969 they moved to Plano and welcomed son number three, Jeffrey. A girl's girl who had grown up around girls, she was now the proud mother of three energetic boys — and she was the best boy mom anyone could have asked for. In 1973 it was her idea to get season tickets to the Plano Wildcat football games. They held those seats for thirty years.

The family needed a church home, and Carolyn and Al became founding members of Christ United Methodist Church. It was during those years that her personal faith in Jesus Christ really took root and grew. They were also founding members of the Family Living adult Sunday school class, where she made friends who stayed close for the rest of her life.

Soon after arriving in Plano, Carolyn went back to the work she loved and began teaching at local preschools. In 1975 she joined the newly opened Children's Discovery Center at Christ United Methodist Church, and not long after, a position opened and she became its director. For 23 years she guided that program with a love and care that drove its growth and built a reputation that still stands today.

In the early 1980s she started a new adventure and went back to school. While raising three kids and working full time, Carolyn earned her master’s in education degree from the University of North Texas and walked that stage. It was one of the proudest moments of her life.

Carolyn made things special. She hand-sewed Halloween costumes, built her own Thanksgiving traditions, threw pirate birthday parties, and decorated for Christmas like nobody else. Fall was her favorite time of year, and Christmas was her favorite holiday. She loved filling the Creekbend house with family and friends, and she was always planning something — trips to Disney World, adventures in Colorado, because she loved the mountains. She was the driving force behind her family's faith, their involvement in the church, and their future.

After Carolyn retired in 1999, she and Al traveled the world with their Family Living class friends. There isn't room here to list all the places they went.

Her other later-in-life adventure was quilting. She became a vibrant quilter and part of a local quilt bee, making quilts for just about everyone she knew. One year she entered a quilt in the competition at the State Fair of Texas and won a blue ribbon — and anyone who knew how much Carolyn loved the State Fair knows what a big deal that was. She kept quilting and kept entering. It gave her peace and an outlet for a deep well of creativity.

Above all, Carolyn treasured her family. She loved being a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were, quite simply, her greatest joy and her proudest legacy.

Later in life Carolyn developed macular degeneration and dementia. Her faith in Jesus Christ sustained her, as it had all along. Through the trials of her life, the one thing she would want to be remembered for is being a faithful servant whose personal relationship with Jesus was the most important part of who she was.

Carolyn lived a full life in every way. She loved deeply, served faithfully, and made an impact on everyone she touched. We are grateful to God for her life and the legacy she leaves behind.

Carolyn was preceded in death by her father, George Franklin Barnes; her mother, Ruth Oberwetter Barnes; and her sister, Kay Barnes; her aunt Beth “Bessie” Meyers.

She is survived by her husband, Al Bond; her sons and their wives, Chris and Dorothy Bond, Michael and Keiko Bond, and Jeffrey and Jennifer Bond; her grandchildren, Mallory and her husband Daniel Szalay, Bennett, Chase and his wife Katie, Alec, Randy and his wife Kristen, Aidan, Ainsley, and Ami; and her great-grandchildren, Klara, Andrew, and Emelia.

There will be a memorial service to celebrate Carolyn’s life at 1:00 p.m., Monday, September 21, 2026, at Christ United Methodist Church, Plano, Texas.

She will be laid to rest at the Christ UMC Columbarium.