Barbara Jean Ekren Deatherage

Barbara Jean Ekren Deatherage, 81, passed away July 14, 2017. She went to the Lord peacefully, in her sleep, and surrounded by loving family.

Barbara was born Jan. 18, 1936, to Peter Ekren and Helen Waldum Ekren and was the older sister to her brother, Robert, and her sister, Betty. She and her siblings grew up in Minneapolis, Minn., and Sioux City. After her father passed away when she was about 12, Barbara, along with Robert and Betty, were “raised by a village” of the Waldum sisters, including their mother Helen and their aunts, Inga, Bertha (who Barbara called Bopee), Edna and Josephine. Barbara also would speak of spending time with her grandmother, whose family came to the United States from Trondheim, Norway, and who only spoke Norwegian.

Barbara majored in home economics at Iowa State University in Ames, where she fell in love with Robert “Bob” Deatherage. Barb and Bob were married Dec. 30, 1955, at Morningside Lutheran Church in Sioux City, and last year celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary. They devoted their lives to raising their four children in Newton, where Bob worked as a design engineer for the Maytag Company – Mark (married to Julie, in Scottsdale, Ariz.), Craig (married to Jeanette, in Lynn Haven, Fla.), Rick (married to Wendy, in Cook, Minn.) and Mindy (married to Guy, in Peoria, Ariz.). Barbara was a loving and wonderful grandmother to seven grandchildren – Kaitlyn, Tauren, Matt, Sarah, Melody, Brandon and Molly Margaret, as well as to her four great-grandchildren – Kaya Rose, Lucy, River and Isla. “Aunt Barb” also was blessed with and loved her nieces and nephews – David, Christie, Stephen, Bobby, Jeff, Dorothy and Judy, and she was a de facto second grandmother to some of her grand-nieces and grand-nephews.

Barbara worked as an old-fashioned telephone switchboard operator before she was married. She then spent the next 27 years as a hard-working and loving wife and mother. Her children remember that she prepared a hearty dinner every night for “family time,” that she took them to all manner of school events, sports leagues and extra-curricular activities, that she made their home a central hub of activity for them and their friends, that she helped them with homework and “encouraged” them to work hard and do their best, that she made great, creative birthday cakes, that she loved to play 500 and Tripoley, and that on a limited budget she managed to always provide them with everything they needed. Barb served as president of the Newton High School Band Parents’ Association, helped organize little leagues and was very active in Mindy’s Blue Birds and Campfire Girls chapters.

Barb’s faith was very important to her. She and Bob helped found and build Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Newton. Barb served as bookkeeper for the church for many years. Her favorite social time was Sunday brunch after church with the Vermillions, Fishers, Nidas, Stevens’ and Coopers.

Everyone remembers Barbara best for the Christmas holidays. That was a time when her combined love of God and Jesus, her family and her Norwegian heritage all came together. She made the house come alive with Christmas decorations and spirit, showed her kids how to make Norwegian holiday cookies and lefse, found ways to make sure everyone received presents they would enjoy, taught her kids the importance of giving and of gratitude, and brought all of the family’s generations together.

After Bob’s retirement, he and Barb enjoyed many years in Minneapolis, where they loved spending time at the lakes and became known to friends and locals as the “Mayors of Lake Harriet.” They then spent their last years together in Orr, Minn., with a one-year stay in Phoenix, Ariz.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 22 at Calvary Lutheran Church, 10770 Highway 23, Orr, Minn., with visitation beginning at 10 a.m. Interment will follow the service at Leiding Cemetary; then return to church for lunch and fellowship. Details are available at mlakerfuneralhome.com.