St. George, UT – On Easter Sunday, April 17, 2022, our cherished wife and beloved mother and grandmother was released from the trials of this world into the waiting arms of her loving parents on the other side of the veil. Carol Jo was born at Hill Air Force Base on February 28, 1955, to Robert C and M Louise Richmond. Grandpa Bob's Air Force career took his family all over the world. Mom lived in Biloxi, MI; Petaluma, CA; Rapid City, SD; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Fukuoka, Japan, where at 8 years old she was baptized in the frigid February waters of Itazuke Bay. She saw the world before she graduated from high school, but her favorite place in the world was at home with her Rossy.

She met the love of her life in choir at Dixie College in the spring of 1974. The choir director rearranged the seating and the altos ended up next to the basses. The biggest defensive lineman on the football team stood next to the quietest clarinet player and asked if it was ok for him to stand next to her. She told him he could only stand there if he held her hand. So, he grabbed ahold of her and never let go. Ross LeRoy Paulson and Carol Jo were engaged three weeks later and were sealed in the Salt Lake City Temple on September 18, 1974. Never have two people been more dedicated to each other than Ross and Carol. Love grows best in little houses, and the love in their home only increased through their 47 years together. They were blessed with 3 daughters and they both dedicated their lives to them. The only thing that rivaled Mom's love for Ross was the love she had for her children. It's easy to say a mother would die for her children, but Carol lived for hers. Her daughters never doubted that they had the gentlest comforter or the fiercest defender on their side. She built a home that was a haven from the outside world.

Carol Jo only had three biological children, but those aren't her only kids. She opened her home and her arms to literally hundreds of children. Simply calling her a babysitter is such an understatement for the role she played in the lives of so many little ones. She loved every single one of them. Please know that if you were ever one of her "babysitting kids" you were never forgotten, she loved to hear of your progress in life, and she thought of you all often. Ross and Carol FINALLY got their sons when their daughters married. She loved them as if they were her full-blooded sons and was so grateful for the way they love and care for her daughters.

We are going to miss her desperately every day until we see her again. We know she is free of pain and the cares of this world, and she is busy getting her eternal home ready for her Rossy and all her children and grandchildren. She will be anxiously engaged in furthering the work of The Lord until we are blessed to be in her presence again.

Carol Jo is survived by her adored husband, Ross, her beloved children: Kellie & Jay, Andie & Colby, and Trina & Ammon; and her darling grandsons: Brenden, Cason, Corbin, Caleb, and Cole, whom she absolutely adored. She is also survived by her siblings and numerous nieces and nephews. She loved you all.

Funeral services will be held Friday, April 22, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. at Metcalf Mortuary Chapel, 288 West St. George Blvd., St. George, Utah. Visitations will be held at Metcalf Mortuary on Thursday April 21, 2022, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and on Friday April 22, 2022, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. After the viewing on Friday morning, time will be set aside for family and guests to share their stories, thoughts, and love. Carol Jo will be interred in the Tonaquint Cemetery in St. George, Utah, a few feet away from her parents, just like she promised her mother she would be.   Families are Forever.

Carol Jo Paulson Funeral Service Program