WINNEMUCCA - If you went through Winnemucca Junior High School in the late '70s or early '80s, you may remember the librarian Barbara Foree, and if you don't recognize the name from that time it may come to mind when on one of the occasions your regular teacher was out you tried to play sink the sub, but she didn't go under.
"I subbed everything. I subbed from kindergarten to high school. I even subbed in junior high band about six weeks!" she said.
Foree, 87, was born in Burley, Idaho, Sept. 15, 1925, during the heady days of the Roaring '20s, when little Barbara Berg came into the world, the first of two children in the Berg family.
Her father, Knute, immigrated to the United States from Denmark when he was 21. As a livestock man he found work at the Portland Feeder Company in Lewiston, Utah, shortly after he arrived. His first wife, Gertie, died of tuberculosis while he was serving in Europe during the Great War.
"He was so proud to be an American that he enlisted in World War I," Foree said. When he returned from Europe he later ended up marrying Missourian Olive Short, a teacher who had moved to Idaho to teach in the area Knute was living.
She has actually been to Denmark and met an aunt and uncle and several of her cousins, some of whom have journeyed to Winnemucca to see how their American relatives lived.
"It's a very small country. It's not any bigger than Elko County," she said. "They use every little inch of land that they have." Her dad often thought there was a lot of waste in the United States, but he never returned to his native land.
Foree grew up with her sister Virginia playing the games of the time, such as Annie-Annie Over and kick the can. Being brought up during the Depression left a big imprint on her adult life.
"My mother was very thrifty. We did not waste any food. We ate up everything," she said. Foree said that her mother would take clothes that had been given her and tear them apart and make clothing for her family, including an old suit of her father's that her mom turned into a suit for her.
"I don't know anybody that would do that now," she said. "We used everything. I think when my kids come to clean things out they'll find (a lot of) rubber bands."
A few months shy of her 18th birthday in 1943, Foree graduated from Shelley High School in Shelley, Idaho. She went on to attend Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore., about 750 miles from home, graduating in 1947 with a degree in education and that fall began teaching in Redmond, Ore.
There she taught freshman and sophomore English for a couple of years before moving to Pendleton, Ore., where she continued to teach freshman and sophomore English before deciding to try something different and transferred to the local Pendleton Junior High School to teach typing and English.
She found something else there that was different from all the other guys she knew - Bill - working on his dad's sheep ranch. Her future husband had been a radio man on the USS Saratoga aircraft carrier during World War II. He had since earned a degree in wildlife management and eventually parlayed that into a good career.
They met on a blind date at a picnic, but their eyes were opened to one another after that. Although the 100 miles or so between Pendleton and the sheep ranch made dating difficult, they managed to do it with one going to visit the other and then the other visiting the other until they finally decided to get married June 12, 1955, in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Dating usually consisted of a show or dinner when he came to town or just hanging out at the ranch when she visited him.
Before they were married Bill had accepted a job at the Nevada Department of Wildlife in Winnemucca a few months earlier, and after honeymooning in Yellowstone Park the two individuals moved to Winnemucca to begin their new life as one couple.
Their first son Steve was born in 1956 and Mark came along the following year. The age-old problem that continues today of no rentals was also a problem for them in the '50s when they moved to town. The only way to find a place to rent was to know somebody and Foree discovered that she knew someone in Idaho who had a niece in Winnemucca with a rental on Sixth Street.
When the landlord decided to raise the rent from $50 a month to $65 a month they decided it was time to move on.
"I said, 'We might as well buy a house (rather than paying) that exorbitant rate,'" she said. And for the last 56 years she has lived in the same home.
"I've had the same neighbor all this time," Foree said. "There's not too many that can say you've had the same neighbor for over 50 years. We're really close."
After her boys began school she started substitute teaching and continued doing that for 12 years. To help pay for college for her two young men, she accepted an offer from the school district to be the librarian at the junior high. She ended up staying there about 10 years before finally retiring in 1987. Steve and Mark graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno. Steve works for the BLM and Mark works for the Truckee Meadows Water Authority.
Foree has three granddaughters. Erin is working on her master's degree in speech therapy and Elise is studying nutrition, both at UNR. The third granddaughter, Alyssa, is a junior in high school and taking college courses at TMCC.
Bill retired from NDOW in 1985 and died of leukemia in 2007. They were married almost 52 years.
"I didn't think we'd make it that long because I was 29 when I married and Bill was 31. Because we were older I didn't think we'd make it 50 years. I really didn't," she said. "I was surprised that we did."
Foree is very busy with labors of love at her church, but when she gets the chance she enjoys reading, knitting and crocheting. She loves to go to the senior center, where she always gets good nourishing food and a chance to meet up with friends. But her faith is the most important part of her life and has been since childhood.
"I accepted the Lord when I was in Vacation Bible School when I was 13," she said. "I'll try to serve the Lord till I die. My faith has been a big part of my life." She has been a member of First Baptist Church since arriving in town 57 years ago.
She said that Winnemucca has been a great place to raise children and living here has been an enjoyable experience.
"I like it because there's not much crime," she said. "I think it's been a good town to live in."
[[In-content Ad]]
