Barbara J. Eanes, age 71, went home to be with the Lord on Friday, Sept. 4, 2009, after battling leukemia for several years. Barbara was born on Aug. 6, 1938 in a farmhouse on the shores of Lake Okoboji near Spirit Lake, Iowa to Theron and Ruth Dempsie, the first of their two daughters.

When she was five years of age, the family moved to a small farm in northern Minn., the only home her parents ever owned. Barbara graduated from the Pequot Lakes, Minnesota high school in 1956 and then attended nursing school in Minneapolis at the Glenwood Hills Hospital, where she earned an LPN nursing degree.

She moved to Snohomish, Wash., in 1958 to live and work in the area when her parents were temporarily living there. She met Boyd Eanes while in Wash. and they were married on March 2, 1962, soon moving to their home of over 40 years in Arlington. Boyd, Barbara and their three sons were avid boaters and campers and the boys were involved in soccer and other sports through much of their school years.

The family was also active in church activities in Arlington, first at Our Saviors Lutheran Church and later at the Assembly of God, where Barbara has remained a loving and valued participant. She lost her beloved husband in Feb. 1997 while vacationing in Ariz. They had been married just a few days short of 35 years. She enjoyed the warm, dry climate of the southwest and often visited her sister and other close friends there in recent years.

One of her hobbies was rock collecting and the desert landscapes provided an excellent source for her collection as did the ocean and lakeshore beaches wherever she traveled. Barbara was a student and teacher of the Bible and enjoyed her church activities and friends who will dearly miss her. She kept up with current events, especially political news and recently developed an interest in her heritage and genealogy. She very much enjoyed a trip to Ireland with her sister in 2001 and a family reunion in the Midwest in 2006 where she was reunited with many cousins and relatives.

Barbara is survived by three sons, Michael (Monya) of Everett, Douglas (Mary) of Granite Falls, Scott (Kim) of Pe Ell, seven grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and one sister Carolyn Carringer of Clear Lake, Minn. She is also survived by her late husbands brother Chuck Eanes of Darrington, several nieces and nephews and many close and dear friends.

A celebration of our mother’s life will be held at the Assembly of God church in Arlington on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 11 a.m. Donations in our mothers name may be made to the National Lukemia and Lymphoma Society.