Barbra Fields

In the 1970s, shortly after Barb and Ron Fields and their three
daughters moved to their home in west Medford, Barb heard the
neighbors ringing a big metal triangle to call their children in for dinner.

She told everyone to grab their plates and forks, and everyone marched
next door to join the dinner line. Sue Roberts was surprised, but ready
to welcome them in, and they became good friends over the next years.

That is how Barbra Jean Fields approached life: with love, laughter, a
deep streak of mischief and an enduring sense of adventure.

After more than eight decades of traveling and adventures, as of Sept.
28, 2025, Barb, 84, of Falkville, Alabama, was ready to go home.

She was born July 22, 1941, in Boise, Idaho, to Henry "Dutch" and
Edna "Merle" Nulton. She had a little brother, Dean, whom she
protected fiercely and tormented - as a big sister should.

The family spent her early years in Milton-Freewater, Oregon, and in
Moscow, Idaho, before moving in the mid-1940s to Oregon's Rogue
Valley.

She graduated from Medford Senior High School in 1959, then enrolled
in the University of Oregon to study journalism.

Barb and her college friends called themselves "the motley crew," and it
was through them that she met Ronald Fields, whom she married in
Medford in 1961. Their 30-year marriage was one of those rare
relationships that grew in love each year. They were each other's love
of a lifetime. Struggles, moves and even Ron's cancer drew them
together. That love provided the base of their home as they parented
their three daughters: Jody, Julia, and Jennifer.

Ron enlisted in the Air Force shortly after Jody was born, and the family
lived in multiple states during his time in the service. After he was
discharged in 1970, still wanting to travel, he took a job in Okinawa,
Japan, where the family lived for close to a year.

The Medford area remained home, however, and the family returned
there in 1971. Barb earned her teaching degree through Southern
Oregon State College. She taught kindergarten at Lone Pine
Elementary School, then transferred to Kennedy Elementary School
when it was built in 1977. She graduated to fourth grade a few years
prior to her retirement.

In Medford, Barb and Ron went square dancing, attended Applegate
Christian Fellowship and held "agape" Bible fellowship classes in their
home. Barb led a Girl Scout troop and maintained close friendships with
her fellow teachers, a group they dubbed "the wise old owls."

All her life, Barb loved gardening, geology, history, learning, art -
especially pottery and watercolor - and working with young children.
The family had a puppet-making booth for many years at the
Jacksonville Children's Festival, and would put on shows using
appliance boxes as a theater.

Barb lived in various homes in Medford and Ashland before moving to
Falkville, Alabama, in 2005 to be near Julia and her grandchildren there.
In each area, she became active in local churches, joining the Meals
Ministry through Ashland Christian Fellowship and becoming a part of
First Baptist Church in Falkville. She taught Awana youth ministry
classes and held Sunday morning Bible study groups with many close
friends. She also had a women's study group once per month and spent
Tuesday nights in a group call with her daughters, who prayed and
studied the Bible together from their locations across the country.

Everywhere she lived, Barb put in a giant flower garden, and always
included irises, her favorite blooms. The west Medford home also
included acreage to make the girls' dream of having a horse come true.

She also loved to swing. Ron and his father worked together to build an
adult-sized swingset, complete with trapeze, in the yard of one of their
homes, and later hung swings in the large oak trees of the west
Medford home.

No matter where she lived, Barb continued to travel and explore. The
family often went on camping and traveling, once spending a month in
1976 taking a bicentennial road trip that included everything from the
Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C., to a shrimp boil in
Louisiana. She later treated her grandchildren and great-grandchildren
to similar adventures.

In addition to Japan, she traveled to Europe, Panama, New Zealand
and Australia - every continent but Antarctica. Mother-daughter trips
included Natchez; Savannah, Georgia; the Florida Keys and Orcas
Island in Washington state.

At each stop, she would visit museums, art galleries, national parks,
gardens and roadside attractions such as the World's Largest Prairie
Dog (a statue in Jackson County, South Dakota). She never met a rock
she didn't like, and often decided to haul them home for landscaping or
her Japanese garden.

Gatherings for family and friends happened frequently and always
included card and board games. Barb delighted in mischief and fun and
loved to laugh. If there happened to be a hose nearby, for instance, no
one was safe from a squirt. Once, well into adulthood, she and her
friends were kicked out of the Rogue River Lodge for having a water
fight.

Although Barb often posed for silly pictures, it wasn't easy to find photos
of her by herself, because she was always with family or friends.

Husband Ron died before her, but she is survived by her brother, Dean,
and his wife, Donna Nulton; daughters Jody Hill of Albany, Oregon, Julia
Bright and husband Joe of Falkville and Jennifer Fields and husband
Rich Allen of Chinle, Arizona; grandchildren Ryan Hill, Emma Conley,
Anna Marsh and her husband Tim; Shelina Bright and her children
Madison, Haley, Isaac and Willow; and a soon-to-be-born great-great
grandchild. She also leaves behind Gentleman John, her beloved
rescue dog - one of many dogs she loved throughout her life.

Services will be Saturday October 4th at 11am at First Baptist Church Falkville. She will rest with Ron in a place they both loved.