Barbara Jean Foree passed away peacefully on March 4, 2018 at Humboldt General Hospital due to the effects of a stroke and heart attack with her sons by her side. She was 92 years old.
Barbara was born in Burley, Idaho in 1925. She was the first daughter of Knute Berg, a Danish emigrant, and Olive Short, a young school teacher from Missouri. Barbara attended public schools in Burley and Shelly, Idaho from kindergarten through high school. Barbara met Jesus and was baptized at age 15 in Idaho Falls at First Baptist Church. She obtained a college degree in Education from Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon in 1947. Upon graduation she taught English and Typing in public high schools in Redmond and Pendleton, Oregon.
In 1953 Barbara was introduced to a young man named William (Bill) Foree on a blind date arranged by Bill’s cousin who taught school with Barbara. In 1954 in Idaho Falls, Idaho the young couple was married and moved to Winnemucca where Bill began work with the Nevada Fish and Game Commission. It was here in Winnemucca the young couple began a journey of work and raising a family, developing lifelong friendships along the way.
Two sons were born to the young couple, Stephen in 1956 and Mark in 1957. Barbara was a stay at home mom during the early years when her boys were too young for school but started teaching piano lessons and substitute teaching as the boys grew older. She began a career as a teacher at the Winnemucca Junior High in 1970 as a librarian and worked there for 20 years until she retired in 1990.
Barbara was a member of First Baptist Church since coming to Winnemucca in 1954. She taught Sunday School and Bible Study and for years was the music and choir leader at the church. She loved Jesus first and her family and had a strong love for the Winnemucca church and those whom she interacted at the church with for more than six decades. A lifelong teacher, Barbara taught Sunday School and led a church Bible Study in the week prior to her passing. Her strong faith and positive attitude were an inspiration to her family and hundreds of people she met along her journey in life. She had many wonderful friends and neighbors who helped her in her later years and it was these people and their awesome help that allowed her to stay in her house until her last days. The family will be eternally grateful to these wonderful people.
Barbara loved to eat lunch with her friends at the Winnemucca Senior Center and loved to spend time with her family whenever possible.
Barbara is survived by a sister, Virginia Berg; two sons, Stephen and Mark; two daughters-in-law, Tam and Sonja; and three wonderful grand daughters, Erin, Elise, and Aly. She was preceded in death by her father and mother and husband.
Celebration of Life Services will be at First Baptist Church in Winnemucca on Saturday, March 31 at 1 pm with burial in the Winnemucca Cemetery. Donations in lieu of flowers should be made to First Baptist Church, Box 7, Winnemucca, NV 89445.
