Barbara Jean Waters

1949 - 2021

Barbara Jean Waters

January 2, 1949 - August 27, 2021

Barbara Jean Waters passed from this life to her heavenly home on August 27th. She was born in 1949, in Bremerton, Washington. She was the third child of Dutch and Hjordes Waters and grew up in Winston, Oregon. She received all twelve years of schooling in the Winston-Dillard School District, graduating from Douglas High School as Valedictorian in 1967. She attended Oregon College of Education in Monmouth where she made many lifelong friends. She received degrees from both Southern Oregon College and University of Oregon. Yes, she was a DUCK fan.

She worked for several federal agencies including the Umpqua National Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management in Roseburg as well as the Veterans Administration in Roseburg and in Washington DC. Barbara co-owned a business (Friday to Friday, LLC) in the Willamette Valley for twenty years. Together with her best friends Bonnie Tufts and Ila Mae Gillett, they provided personalized guardianship, conservatorship and care management services to many clients.

She is survived by her brother John Waters (Arvilla) of Kalona, Iowa and her sister, Wanda McFarland (John) of Sherwood, Oregon. She is also survived by over fifty nieces and nephews in the Waters Family and many others in the extended Tufts and Gillett families as an honorary sister and aunt. She was preceded in death by her parents Dutch and Hjordes Waters, and one sister, Marjorie Yoder.

Barbara will be remembered for her love of family and friends. She always had time for a visit, a tall tale, a perfect cup of coffee with a sweet cake - or maybe a favorite ice cream bar. She was a planner extraordinaire, for herself - and everyone else around her - having an endless list of possible projects and adventures lined up for the future. She loved the beach and every trip there involved "getting the kites in the air" and collecting interesting rocks, shells and driftwood. She was also known to collect hats, pictures of odd street signs and lapel pins. True to her Norwegian heritage, she sprinkled her home and wardrobe with the color RED and was always ready for a fish dinner, berry soup, Lefse and Fattigmans. She never married and loved all her nieces and nephews as though they were her own children - and they all loved "Aunt Barbara". Her heartfelt letters, poems, words of wisdom and encouragement, scriptures and specially selected gifts will be remembered by all who knew and loved her.

There will be a private family burial at Civil Bend Pioneer Cemetery. Condolences may be sent in care of Sally Willis, PO Box 2026, Myrtle Creek, OR 97457. Memorial contributions in her memory may be made to Providence Hospice in Portland, Oregon.