Carol Jean (Lauderback) Manouk

Carol Jean (Lauderback) Manouk, 79, resident of El Dorado Springs passed away on May 20, 2021 during a short and intense battle with cancer.

Carol was born Dec. 26, 1941, in Culver City, CA. She grew up and lived much of the 1st half of her adult life in Southern California where she raised her daughter, Shelly, developed a love of jazz music, married and divorced Bobby Sommers and then Eddie Manouk. Early 1980’s Carol moved back to the Lauderback homestead in Walker to help take care of her grand-mother, Katie, be closer to her parents; Albert and Sylvia Lauderback, and to prepare for her daughter, Shelly’s, move to Missouri from California.

After her daughter’s tragic death in 1983, she moved to Dadeville where she began raising her grand-daughter, Crystal Egan, and worked in Springfield as a Nail Technician until the mid-1990’s when she moved to Stockton where she owned a storage business until her father died in 1998. Carol then moved back to the family homestead in Walker for a few years until she eventually moved to El Dorado Springs in 2007.

Carol loved being in nature, hiking, hunting, fishing, mushroom hunting, gardening and collecting rocks. She loved all animals; all the strays seemed to know where to go to find a warm and loving home. Being an avid horseback rider for many years, she was known as Nevada Red in the trail riding communities.

Carol was known for her sense of humor and could put anyone at ease, even in the toughest of situations. But she was known for her red-headed temper. She was a force to be reckoned with when angry, but an absolute joy to be around when she was happy.

Carol was a woman that knew how to wear gold, appreciated a good steak and the finer things in life but happily made do with fixing what was broken and discarded by others, making it beautiful again.

Carol was a creative, resourceful, tough, independent woman who lived exactly how she pleased. She was deeply loved, and the absence of her very large personality has left an equally large hole in our hearts. She will never be forgotten.

She is survived by her sister, Patricia Ann (Lauderback) Mittleman – Phoenix, AZ; and granddaughter, Crystal Ivy Egan – Oklahoma City, OK; as well as many cousins, close friends and her dog, Ralph, and her two cats, Felix and Smokey.

Preceding her in death are her daughter, Shelly Lee (Evans) Egan; parents, Sylvia (Linder) Lauderback, and Albert Lauderback; great-grandparents on both sides; and her two ex-husbands, Bobby Sommers, and Edward Manouk.

Her body was donated to science and the cremated remains returned to family. A memorial service was given by her Jehovah’s Witness congregation and a Celebration of Life may be held at a later date (post-Covid).