Barbara Louise Moench

Barbara Louise Moench (née Harp) passed away peacefully in Bakersfield, California on July 3, 2025. She was born on January 22, 1940, to Howard Cooper and Virginia Nadine (Ash) Harp in Santa Maria, California. She was their eldest daughter and second child.Barbara was an excellent student and played softball and volleyball in high school. Through a combination of hard work and scholarships, she attended Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo, where she studied journalism and met the love of her life, Romero Jon "Rick" Moench. Her children always thought it funny that their parents met because their dad was dating their mom's college roommate. Her roommate was busy studying, so Rick and Barb shared some ice cream. They didn't know at the time that ice cream dates would be a staple of their long and happy marriage. Barbara always carried a spoon in her purse so they could enjoy a pint of Häagen-Dazs wherever they were. In later years, they would go get soft serve cones and sit on the tailgate of Rick's truck and watch the traffic go by as they talked. They were married in San Luis Obispo, California on December 17, 1960. There aren't words that fully capture how much they loved each other. Once the three big kids were old enough to watch the three little kids, the two of them would go on Rick and Barb weekends. They dated each other through their whole marriage. Rick passed shortly before their 58th wedding anniversary, but because their marriage was sealed in the Oakland Temple on April 16, 1966, death was just a comma and not a period to their love. All of their children know that their dad was the first person to welcome their mom home.
Barbara was an amazing woman. She was a nurturer at heart, raising six children, along with all their friends. She fed everyone, keeping the Schwan's man in business, as teenagers (both hers and whoever else walked in the door) would walk right to the chest freezer upon entering the house and see what was available to eat. She fed her husband's coworkers, who, years after Rick and Barb had moved away, remembered Barbara as "the salt of the earth" and waxed rhapsodic about her cinnamon rolls. She would send homemade bread to the courthouse where Rick presided as judge to feed the clerks. And every year on the day after Thanksgiving, she would start baking and wouldn't stop until Christmas, making thirty to forty different types of cookies and candies to fill Christmas plates for all around her. She stocked multiple types of mayonnaise in the fridge to make sure her children's spouses had their preferred brand, always asked her kids what they wanted to eat when they would come home to visit, and made more batches of hot fudge sauce than anyone who has never been employed in an ice cream shop. With her friend Donna Swiss, she helped coordinate the fundraising dinners that her church conducted for the welfare fund to help the needy. They would also coordinate fundraising dinners for other service organizations in the community. She made meals for families from church who needed some help, whether it was in celebrating a new baby, suffering through an illness, or grieving the loss of a loved one. And she always made a double batch so she could leave half at home, never wanting her children to think she was prioritizing someone else over her own family.
She could grow anything (except for tulips, which always refused to cooperate.) She always had plants in the house, especially African violets. She would talk to her plants and they grew better for her than anyone else. Whenever she would leave on vacation, they would sulk until she got back. Even though her kids tried to perform the same level of care Barbara gave them, the plants knew the difference. She would walk in the door, give them a little spritz of water and a kind word and they would perk right back up. She also always had birdfeeders, loving to watch the comings and goings of the different birds. She didn't have much use for the doves that would bully the smaller birds out of the way for seeds scattered on the ground, but especially enjoyed watching the hummingbirds.
She loved tomatoes fresh from her garden, but would buy flats of strawberries from the men selling them warm from the field, because making strawberry shortcake for as many people as she was feeding would have required more garden space than she had, especially with a dog always running around, and there was almost always at least one dog running around. She truly enjoyed cooking, even though she confessed that the motivation behind a lot of her bread baking was a way to control her temper. She would take out her anger on the bread dough while punching it down. Her children never remember her raising her voice, but they did eat a lot of homemade bread, usually topped with homemade jam or jelly. Upon reflection, we remember one use of "That sucks," and another use of "Oh, hell," but if you knew all the things her kids put her through, that's pretty impressive. She had an amazing and refined vocabulary and didn't need to resort to swearing to get her point across. She had "The Look" down pat. She only needed to wield that once, and her kids would shape up. Unless it was her daughters getting the giggles in church, and then she would just shake her head and ignore them.
She was the perfect mom for her family. She was blessed with grandchildren through birth, adoption, and as bonuses when her children married, and she never distinguished between them in any way. They were hers, regardless of how she had received them. When her kids would come home to visit, she would always give them gas money for the trip home, even when her youngest was in his forties. She sent birthday and anniversary cards to every child, grandchild, and great-grandchild, always with a handwritten note and money tucked inside. She raised six very different children, and every single one of them thinks they are her favorite.
She taught all of her children how to budget using a yellow legal pad, always paying her tithing first. She lived the gospel of Jesus Christ both in word and deed. She was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints up until the day she died. She served in the Relief Society repeatedly, taught Gospel Doctrine, seminary, Primary, and emergency preparedness. Her favorite calling was as a Relief Society teacher. She drove her kids to early-morning seminary and weeknight activities for years. She loved researching her family history and made connections with cousins across the country. She even helped coach her seven year old daughter's AYSO team, which was the height of bravery (or insanity.) But someone needed to do it, so she did it. That's just who she was.
She was an avid reader her entire life. From a very young age, she loved libraries and the opportunities for learning they presented. As a child she could often be found up a tree with a book, and though as an adult that tree morphed into a chair, she always had a book close at hand. She passed that love of books and libraries on to her children. All her children had their own library cards, and weekly trips to the local library were a family mainstay, where a laundry basket of books, art, and music (and one time a dog) would come home to be enjoyed. She was president of the Taft Library's Friends of the Library organization for many years, spending much of her time volunteering with the Grandma's Attic program of picture books and a craft every Saturday morning.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her beloved husband, one brother, and one grandson. She is survived by her children Melissa (Bill) Trunick, Sarah (Steve) Webb, Ted Moench, Jon (Todd Eastman) Moench, Ruth (Michael) Arnell, and Dan (Sachiyo) Moench, fifteen grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren, two sisters, a brother, and hundreds of people who were blessed by her life.
She requested no funeral. Donations in her memory may be made to The Nature Conservancy, Heifer International, or Wounded Warriors. To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Barbara Louise Moench, please visit our floral store.