Barbara Waters

1929 - 2021

Barbara Waters

Barbara Waters of Stillwater, OK died September 1, 2021. Barbara Jane was born September 10, 1929 in Amarillo, TX, to Virgil and Fern Troup. With her sisters, Virginia and Dorothy, she grew up in a house on River Road, where they had an informal social club called the "River Road Rats". When Barbara was a teenager, they moved to Enid, OK, where she graduated from Enid High School. She attended Phillips University in Enid until she met and married Donald Scott Waters on August 5, 1949. She then transferred to Oklahoma A&M University in Stillwater where she graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in English. After Graduation in 1950, they moved to Texas where Don worked as an aeronautical engineer. During this time, their three children were born: Daniel, Cynthia, and Mary Cecelia.

Later, Don changed career paths and entered seminary. After seminary, they moved to Oklahoma where he and Barbara served Methodist churches in Lamont, Newkirk, Prairie Chapel, Drumright, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and Pauls Valley. Barbara was always a part of the ministry team as she and Don would make pastoral calls together and she supported him in many ways. As a homemaker and stay-at-home mom, Barbara "home schooled" her kids, teaching them reading, art, love of music, nursery rhymes and children's literature in readiness for public school. Later in life she worked as a substitute school teacher. In Newkirk, she volunteered as a tutor with elementary school children. In Pauls Valley, she worked as a volunteer at the hospital and at the high school library. She loved music and taught herself to play the piano. She enjoyed playing the hymns of the church hymnal from the front cover to the back. She was an avid reader, NYT crossword puzzle solver, and acrostic puzzle addict. Barbara was the Queen of the Puns, creating clever sayings to which her kids could only respond with an, "Oh, Mother".

She loved art and the outdoors, and after she and Don retired to Norman, she enjoyed feeding and watching the birds in their welcoming back yard. She and Don especially loved being retirees in their Norman church, McFarlin Memorial United Methodist Church. They team-taught the Disciple Bible Study course for many years, gaining a large community of friends of all ages through this experience. Don had surgery after a fall in 2012 and declined steadily until his death in November 2012. At that time Barbara moved into assisted living in Norman and later memory care in Stillwater where she eventually died with her daughter, Cindy and son-in-law, Terry, at her bedside, along with her hospice care nurse.

Barbara is survived by her children: Dan Waters and wife, Vickie of Topeka, KS; Cindy Martindale and husband, Terry of Stillwater, OK and Mary Shirazi and husband, Behrooz of Pullman, WA. Also surviving are grandsons, Scott Waters and wife, Angela of Beloit, KS; Christopher Waters and wife, Jennie of East Lansing, MI; Jeff Martindale and wife, Alex of Broken Arrow, OK; and granddaughter, Ari Shirazi of Seattle, WA. Also surviving are great-grandchildren, Camden and Maddox Waters of Beloit, KS; Emma, Bella, and Luke Waters of East Lansing, MI; and Malcolm Martindale of Broken Arrow, OK; also many nieces and nephews and a host of friends.

Due to COVID risk, there will not be a public memorial service to celebrate her life but her family will gather at a later date.

www.strodefh.com