Bernard "Bud" Carroll

Bernard "Bud" Carroll passed away pain free June 9, 2025, after a long battle with cancer. He was the second oldest of six children born to O. L. "Dutch" and Margaret Carroll. His parents and siblings Raymond, Rosemarie "Babe", Larry, and Pat all preceded him in death, with one brother Paul of Lee's Summit, Missouri surviving. All but one of them were victims of cancer.

Bud was born in Springfield, Illinois, but the family moved to Galesburg, Illinois when he was a child. There he attended St. Joseph Grade School and graduated from Corpus Christi High School in 1953. He and a buddy spent a few months in California, but Galesburg was calling him home. He enlisted in the Army later in 1954 and served until 1957, with an honorable discharge as SP 3 (T). He was first deployed to Korea then on to Camp Drake in Japan, where he served most of his remaining time. He trained on the use of Honest John missiles, having security clearance to the blueprints. He also had some training in freight train engineering.

After his discharge, he lived in Galesburg, getting a full time job in the dispatch office at Burlington Truck Lines and also taking classes at Brown's Business College. Later he attended Carl Sandburg College, graduating with an Associate in Applied Science degree, taking advantage of the GI bill for both.

Barnes Business College is where he met his future wife, of almost 66 years, Emily Willman. They married July 25, 1959 at Corpus Christi Church in Galesburg and began their family. Besides his wife and brother, he is survived by five children: Steve (Susan), Cathy Neil (Jim), Tom (Michelle), Anne Harmon, and Jim (Mindy); twelve grandchildren: Sarah (Cody), Bryan, and Dana; Alejandra (Anna) and Jose; Tayler (Chelis), Nina (Brandon), Bryce (Denise) and Emily; Danielle, Nick and Jordyn; five great-grandchildren: Silas, Ella, Wesley and Roman, and newborn Penelope.

Bud's career was entirely in the transportation industry. Burlington Truck Lines became BN Transport and moved their corporate office to Denver, Colorado 1977, which meant moving his family from a relatively small Midwest town to a huge metropolis. Quite a change for all! When BN transport dissolved, he got a job with Gates Rubber Company, where he worked until he retired in 1996 at as Senior Traffic Coordinator. 

Traveling consisted mostly of road trips to Illinois every year to see family until his wife retired in 2000. They then were able to take cruises to Nova Scotia, Alaska Inland Passage and the Caribbean, plus trips to California, Arizona, Virginia, Washington D. C. and Pennsylvania. When not traveling, Bud enjoyed reading about every spy and intrigue book ever written, plus watching about every war movie ever made!

His death was not unexpected, but still very difficult for his family and friends. 90 years and 9 months of life is to be celebrated.

Please join Bud's service via livestream by clicking HERE.