Obituary of Elaine Barrett

Elaine Barrett, 95, passed away peacefully at her home in Fresno, California on April 11, 2019 after a short illness. She was surrounded by her loving family. A joint graveside memorial for Elaine and her husband Ronald (Ron) Barrett will be held on June 29 at 1:00 P.M. at Memorial Park Cemetery in Muscatine, Iowa where their cremains will be interred together.

Elaine was born January 24, 1924 in Joplin, Missouri, the eldest of 3 daughters of Robert Kirby Davis and Orpha (Dorothy) Richards Davis. She grew up in LaMoille, State Center and Newton, Iowa. Elaine and Ron met in Newton and were married on November 9, 1940. They would have celebrated their 70^th wedding anniversary later in the year Ron passed on July 13, 2010. Ron enlisted in the U.S. Navy in January, 1942 and Elaine spent the 4 years of WWII in Newton with their first child while her husband was away in the Pacific. Ron and Elaine moved to Muscatine after he graduated from the University of Iowa in 1949 and lived there for nearly 50 years, moving to Fresno in 1998.

Elaine was a homemaker for her family and contributed to her community. She was an active member of First Christian Church and volunteered for Muscatine General Hospital, Artists in Action and Meals on Wheels among other organizations. Elaine was kind, generous and a friend to nearly everyone she ever met. She had a wide circle of friends in Muscatine, Iowa City, Fresno and the island of Antigua where she and Ron often vacationed. She met people from the many foreign countries Ron traveled to for Stanley Consultants, entertained them in her home and maintained long relationships with several of them. She and Ron had many close friends through Elks Lodge #304 and held season tickets to Iowa Hawkeye football games.

She is survived by her daughter Mary Norgard of Fresno; 2 sons Bruce of Issaquah, WA and Bryan of Anamosa, IA; four grandchildren, Emily Davis and husband Joe of Evanston, IL, Ronald Evan Barrett and wife Lindsay of Edina, MN, Angela Roelle Grauer and Ally Norgard of Fresno; a step-granddaughter Amanda Tallman and husband James of Snoqualmie, WA; 9 great-grandchildren; 5 great-great-grandchildren; and her sisters Jean Goddard and Ruth Rennpage of Newton, IA. She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, a son Ronald Eugene Barrett, Jr., a grandson Branson Barrett and daughter-in-law Linda Wichers Barrett.