Barbara Jean (Kares) Holmes was born on June 9, 1953, in Evansville, Indiana. She was the third child of George W. Kares and Ethel V. (Steiner) Kares. She departed this life on August 8, 2024, at the age of 71.
Barbara attended West Terrace Elementary and graduated from Reitz High School in Evansville. She attended college at the University of Southern Indiana, where she met the love of her life, Michael. They married on August 17, 1973, at Grace Bible Church in Evansville. To this union, three children were born, Aaron Michael, Amilee Shawn, and Rachel Lynn. Although she had a BS degree in Elementary Education, she spent the majority of her working career as a legal assistant or bookkeeper. She worked many different jobs, but she never had to go out and look for one; they always came to her.
She was the typical park ranger’s wife. She handled dispatch whenever she needed to. When Mike was on a fire or an assignment, she had the strength to be both of them.
She loved to play the piano and she played at church for many years. She was very good at it, but humble about her abilities. She loved to hear her granddaughters play and sing, and it very often moved her to tears.
She loved knitting, crocheting, and needlework. Their house is full of things that she made. She especially liked knitting socks, hats for preemie babies at the hospital, and dishrags. We will probably never have to buy another dishrag. She wasn’t very good at sweaters, though.
She loved gardening and flowers. She was always digging things up and moving them to another spot in the yard to find the right amount of sunshine.
She loved games. Whether it was Nutzi, Canasta, word games, or ping pong, she was always competitive and could generally beat you.
She always made holidays special. She would bring out the silver and the fancy glasses. She made sure that even as adults, we all still had stockings at Christmas. All of them were handmade or had special touches that she added herself.
She made the best yeast rolls.
She followed all five of her granddaughters to watch them run cross country, play basketball and softball, cheer, or sing. She was the best Grammy.
All of these are good things, but the best was her deep faith and love for God. She was never pushy or very vocal, but all those who knew her knew she was a child of God and we are thankful that she was this example for us.
Barbara is preceded in death by her parents.
She is survived by Michael, her husband of almost 51 years; her brother, Roger (Peggy) Kares; her sister, Janet (Ron) Moore; her three children, Aaron Holmes, Amilee (Scott) Bressler, and Rachel (Jackie) Davis; and her 5 granddaughters, Halee, Paige, Audrey, Mattie, and Arlee.
Memorial services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 13, 2024, at Yarber Mortuary, Eminence, Missouri, with Bro. Alan Stringer and Bro. Paul Wellinghoff officiating. Visitation will be held prior to the service from 9-11:00 a.m. also at the funeral home. Inurnment will be at Rader Cemetery at a later date. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital. Condolences may be expressed at www.yarbermortuary.com.
