Wilma Barr

Funeral services for Wilma Barr will be at 1:00 P.M., Monday, January 29, 2007 at the Bridgewood Community Church in Blaine, Minnesota with Pastor Don Pfotenhauer officiating. Visitation will be held from 11:00-1:00 P.M. at the church prior to the service. Burial will be held on Tuesday, January 30, 2007 at Maple Hill Cemetery in Grand Marais, Minnesota with Pastor Ed Viren officiating at the grave side.Mrs. Barr passed away on Thursday, January 25, 2007 in Gillette, Wyoming at her daughter?s home of natural causes. Wilma Elizabeth was born on April 14, 1922 in Youngstown, Ohio the daughter of William and Iola (Boyer) Oliver; she was raised in nearby Sebring, Ohio. Gifted, friendly and outgoing, the young Miss Oliver shared her love of music with her church as its organist and graduated valedictorian of her high school class. Wilma then attended the College of Wooster where she met William Barr and on May 13, 1944 the couple married. After Bill?s completion of seminary, they served churches in Minnesota, Chicago, and Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. In 1952, the couple responded to God?s call to India, setting sail for the Punjab with four children under the age of five. After five years, they returned to Dayton, Ohio to a pastorate in Bill?s childhood church, only to return to India in 1961 for another five years. They returned in 1967 to eventually pastor at Forest Ave. again, helping to revive a struggling inner city church. The couple laid aside the security of a salary to follow hard after Christ in a new faith adventure at Okontoe Family Campground on the Gunflint Trail. Wilma found God faithful to care for their needs in the wilderness, even delivering husbands for her girls, right next door. Her pursuit of her Father?s will, continued to lead her all over the world supporting her expanding family and so many more with words of faith at strategic moments, affirmation, prayer, phone calls, visits, her widow?s mite, and unending interest in the dreams and details of their lives. Humble, real, so much fun, always there in both the crises and celebrations, her fruit remains especially evident in her clan who all love God. Wilma is survived by her sons: William O. (Cheryl) Barr of Blaine, Minnesota and Donald F. (Sharon) Barr of Dallas, Texas; daughters: Suzanne (Rob) DuMont of Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, Nancy (Mark) Patten of Grand Marais, Minnesota and Mary (Bill) Morel of Gillette, Wyoming; twenty-one grandchildren and twenty-two great grandchildren.She was preceded in death by her husband and her grandson, Jonathan Barr.Memorials and condolences may be sent in Wilma?s name in care of Stevenson-Wilson Funeral Home, 210 W. 5th St., Gillette, Wyoming 82716 or via the internet at www.stevensonwilson.com.