Barbara Parker Packham

Barbara Parker (Kline) Packham passed away peacefully in the early morning of 26 November 2024 in Meridian, Idaho. She was 91 years old, having been born on 11 September 1933 in Manhattan, New York City. She was the daughter of Robert Walter Kline and Eleanor Elkinton (Staff) Kline. Barbara attended school in the Philadelphia PA area, graduating from Lower Merion High School in 1951.
After marrying, her young family lived in upstate New York and moved to California about 1960, where she gained a love of antiquing and everything Oriental and Polynesian. She and the family loved sailing and camping, gardening and raising orchids. They worked with the Native Americans in Arizona and New Mexico, for a time, bringing their handwork back to Southern California to sell for them, and then returning to the reservation with sewing machines and fabric that had been donated to tribes.
In 1976, she married Nolan Kay Packham, with whom she would spend the next 48 years, until her passing. In 1982, they moved from Southern California to Boise Idaho. She developed talents, along the way, especially for oil painting. Also, like other women of her time, she made many of the childrens clothes. She always had a garden and bottled everything she could get her hands on. In later years, she kept her hands busy crocheting hundreds of hats for children who were undergoing chemotherapy. On her last day of life, she was crocheting and eager for more yarn
In 1998, Barbara and Nolan began serving an 18-month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Bangkok Thailand, once again gaining a deep love for the people of another culture.
Surviving is her husband, Nolan; her children: Jerry Whiteleather Meridith NH, Susan Nielsen (Brett) Okarche OK, Robert Boyd (Tami) Boise ID, David Packham (Sandra) American Fork UT; stepchildren: Sunny George (Bill) Fresno CA, Dan Packham (Cheryl) Nampa ID. Many grandchildren and great grandchildren will miss the Christmas parties at Nanas.
A special thank you to the Cherry Lane Ward for years of caring fellowship and assistance, and to Barbaras loving hospice nurses: Rhonda, Regina and Elizabeth, who made her last months so much easier and sweeter. A Memorial for Mom will be on Saturday, 7 December, at 12 oclock noon at the LDS church at 1560 N. Ten Mile Rd., Meridian, Idaho. To plant a beautiful memorial tree in memory of Barbara, please visit our Tree Store.