HELEN BARNES obituary

BIG SANDY - Helen Sadie Barnes, 91, died Tuesday, May 25, 2004, at a Big Sandy nursing home of natural causes.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. today at the United Methodist Church in Big Sandy with the Rev. Marvin Eldridge officiating. A private family interment

will be held at a later time.

Helen was born on Aug. 31, 1912, to Thomas Aquinas and Grace E. (Beedy) Denley in Box Elder. Her family moved back to Minnesota when she was a young girl. She graduated from high school in Minnesota. She attended college for a few years but got called home to care for her brother and sister, because her mother was dying of cancer. After her mother died, her father retired and they moved to Seattle, Wash. It was there that she met Gordon Wallace Barnes.

They were married in 1940. Gordon taught school in Washington and California. They settled in Richland, Calif., where he taught industrial arts for 20 years. Gordon died in 1979.

Helen helped her aunt type a book titled "A Parish In The Pines." Helen also had written many things herself under a pen name that she never revealed to anyone. She also was a public speaker for the United Church for Women. Helen was known as the "tatter lady," because she made characters out of potatoes to help her in her spiritual talks about living that were related to the Bible. Helen's spiritual gift was being a comforter and was often called upon to comfort families who had lost a loved one. Helen moved to Big Sandy in 1990 to be near her family.

Helen was a member of the Rohr United Methodist Church. She enjoyed yard sales and purchasing things to take to the residents of the nursing home in Big Sandy. The most precious gifts she purchased at these yard sales were crosses. She enjoyed giving them to others. In 2000, Helen was hospitalized and moved from her apartment to the Big Sandy Nursing Home. In 2002, she suffered a severe stroke, and was well taken care of by the Rohr United Methodist Church congregation and all of the friends she made in Big Sandy.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Gordon Wallace Barnes in 1979; two brothers; and two sisters.

Survivors include her daughter, Margaret Phillips of Scotts Valley, Calif.; and son, Bert Barnes of San Antonio, Texas; five grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Arrangements are under the direction of Holland and Bonine Funeral Home.