Sheryl Jeanne Johnson Barta (1937-2009)
BARTA, JOHNSON, JASTRZEBSKI, FULLHART
Posted By: Ames Tribune
Date: 9/18/2009 at 16:21:55
THE AMES TRIBUNE, Ames, Story County, Iowa, Thursday, September 17, 2009.
Sheryl Barta died Monday, Sept. 14, 2009, in a one-car accident on Interstate 35 near Hampton. The memorial service will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ames at 1015 N. Hyland Ave.
Sheryl was born Jan. 31, 1937, in Cedar Rapids, and graduated from Franklin High School. She attended Iowa State University studying home economics, and finished her bachelor’s degree in elementary education at California Western University in San Diego, shortly after her marriage to Thomas A. Barta, her high school sweetheart.
After college, she was an elementary school teacher in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, a career counselor at Ames High School and a nonsexist/nonracist curriculum consultant for the state of Iowa.
She was an accomplished bassoonist through high school and college, playing in the ISU band and symphony.
Although she traveled the world, she was proud to be an Iowan and actively promoted its accomplishments. She was especially proud of her father, Howard Johnson, who painted with Grant Wood in the 1930s and produced, among other works, the murals in the ISU library. In fact, her childhood dentist posed as the farmer for Grant Wood’s “American Gothic.”
She loved nature and never tired of the squirrels, birds, ducks, coyotes, wild flowers and trees surrounding her northern Minnesota cabin. She was active in her lake association, holding offices through president and was currently the lake historian. She had a talent for remembering names, dates and places, and for working the daily New York Times crossword puzzle. She was passionate about politics and was an avid reader.
She is survived by her husband of 53 years, Thomas Barta, of Ames; daughter, Christine Barta, of Ames; daughter, Laura Jastrzebski Barta, and Laura’s husband, Ted Jastrzebski, of Hershey, Pa.; and four grandchildren, Andrew and Julia Fullhart, of Ames, and Annie and Jacob Jastrzebski, of Hershey, Pa.
Donations in lieu of flowers can be made in honor of Sheryl Barta to The Nature Conservancy, (800) 628-6860, reference account 10118332; or Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ames, 1015 N. Hyland Ave., Ames, IA, 50014.
Online condolences may be made at www.stevensmemorialchapel.com.
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