DeWITT, Barbara Elaine (MELANDER NATVIG)
DEWIT, MELANDER, NATVIG, BISHOP, KLUSSMAN, VANHORN, STELPFLUG, GRONINGS, PATZWALD, FORESTER
Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 12/11/2018 at 01:00:06
Obituary ~ Barbara Elaine (Melander, Natvig) DeWitt
February 18, 1926 ~ June 05, 2017The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
June 27, 2017Barbara Elaine DeWitt (Melander, Natvig), 91, high school English teacher, formerly of Mason City, passed away on June 5, 2017 in Stillwater, MN. Born in Aurora, SD on February 18, 1926, Barbara worked as a medical technologist in Brookings, SD and Mankato, MN before graduating with an English and secondary education degree from Mankato State College in 1967.
Barbara began her teaching career in Mason City as Barbara Melander in 1967. She taught English, composition, poetry, and individualized reading at Mason City High School until moving to the Twin Cities in 1976, where she continued to teach until retiring in 1996, the same year she took back her family name DeWitt.
Barbara loved her years in Mason City, especially teaching with Helen Bishop (Klussman), Daylene VanHorn (Stelpflug), John Groninga and others, with John Patzwald as principal. As a single mother she found time for attending all her sons' and MCHS sporting events, selling insurance on the side, and occasionally going out to dinner at the Flame and Embers with best friends Martha Dallas, (cousin) Myrna Angell, and (cousin) Joyce Julsen.
Barbara's dedication to teaching was exemplary, and her concern for students extended to bringing a number home from school for the night or weekend in the immediacy of a difficult or abusive family situation. She gave everything of herself in Mason City and continued to do so until her passing last month. Her fondness for Mason City and its people was obvious, and she wanted to say goodbye and thank you for all the town did for her and her family, with special thanks to the Angell family (Bruce, Myrna, Greg, Ron) for providing a second home for her children.
She is survived by loving sons Craig Forester of Laguna Beach, CA and Todd Melander of Minneapolis.
To honor Barbara a Celebration of Life Memorial will be held at King of Kings Lutheran Church in Woodbury, MN at 1 pm on Saturday, July 22 with a reception to follow at Ray J's, also in Woodbury. For more information contact todd.melander@gmail.com or bradshawfuneral.com
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, December of 2018
Cerro Gordo Obituaries maintained by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
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