BARNUM, Bernita

BARNUM, VIETH

Posted By: Sharon B Becker (email)
Date: 10/31/2014 at 13:27:48

Obituary ~ Bernita Barnum
June 02, 1914 ~ September 08, 2010

Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Madison County, Iowa

Bernita Barnum, 96, died Sept. 8, 2010, at Wesley Retirement Village in Indianola. Bernita Barnum was born June 2, 1914, in Greenfield, Iowa to Cecil and Zora (Vieth) Barnum. When she was a small girl, her family moved to Leon, where she attended grade school and was a 1932 graduate of Leon High School. Bernita attended Simpson College, graduating in 1940, and later took graduate studies at the University of Boulder in Colorado and the University of Nebraska. She retired in 1978 as a reading clinician from the Omaha Public Schools following a career which spanned 35 years.

Bernita was one of the original staff and developers of the Omaha Reading Clinic, which was one of the first of its kind in the nation.

Following retirement, she and her brother, Elmo, moved to Indianola in 1985. Bernita and her brother were philanthropic, and through the years were very supportive of their home community of Leon and Decatur County, as well as Indianola and Simpson College. Together they funded five endowed scholarships and financed the reconstruction of the foyer on the first floor of the College Hall — which was named in their honor. They also made many gifts to the college theatre program and Smith Chapel and helped provide financial assistance to many students for study abroad.

Bernita was a lifetime member of Simpson's President's Society, Women's Federated Club, American Legion Auxiliary, Eastern Star (50 years), and United Methodist Church of Indianola. She was a volunteer teacher at the Indianola Learning Center for many years and because of her dedication, she was awarded the School Board Salute from the Indianola School District in 1994.

She was preceded in death by her brother. Interment Leon Cemetery, Leon, Iowa.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, November of 2014