Barbara Dunster Clagett

Barbara Dunster Clagett, age 66, died of gallbladder cancer on October 22, 2012 at her home in Hayward on the Chippewa Flowage, facing her own death with rare equanimity and a serenity that she herself said was faith-based. She fought three different cancers over the past 38 years, each with uncanny spirit, and always welcoming family and friends into her company until the end.

Born to Merle and Gloria (Erickson) Dunster in Eau Claire on October 1, 1946, Barbara spent her childhood and early youth in Hayward, attending all its schools except for a couple of years where she was taught at the Cable Grade School when her father was the manager of the Hayward Lumber Company in Cable. She graduated from Hayward High School in 1964, going on to receive her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education with a major in English and a minor in Library Science. She did so "with great honor," graduating Magna Cum Laude from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

She married her high school sweetheart Dennis Clagett on August 24, 1968 in Hayward at First Lutheran Church where she remained a life-long member, devoted to its community, its faith and its beliefs.Dennis and Barbara moved to St. Paul Park where Barbara interned as a high school English teacher but found her way to the real love of her career—libraries—when she was hired by the J. J. Hill Reference Library in downtown St. Paul. She worked there until 1978, by which time she was the Union Catalog Supervisor. She then began work for the Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance Company as Supervisor for support staff in underwriting services. She moved to First Bank System Human Resources several years later and retired in 2004 from U.S. Bank Corporate Trust where she researched adverse claims. Throughout her life, Barbara's love of libraries, books and research was seen in her career accomplishments and in the very ways she communicated in everyday life, with wit, intelligence and a sure knowledge of the situation.

Barbara and Dennis retired back to Hayward and found their "true north" on the Chippewa Flowage, which offered them all the beauty and natural wonders of the land they grew up in. Barbara was thrilled to be close to Post, where her great grandfather taught school from 1894-1901. She spent many hours locating once-visible landmarks—where the waters of the Chippewa Flowage run today—based on references and accounts she read in the old family diaries.Upon retirement, Barbara was able to care for her dad, Merle Dunster, who died in 2010. Those years with her father she counted as one of her greatest blessings and a gift she was able to give her father.

Before her death, Barbara credited her faith to the family who fostered it in themselves and her—her grandparents on both sides, her parents, her godparents Marv and Violet Hanson, and her aunts and uncles. She was quick to acknowledge her gift of faith in baptism and her own responsibility to nurture it. Barbara was preceded in death by her mother Gloria in 1971; her brother John Kimball Dunster in 1997; and her father Merle in 2010.She is survived by her husband Dennis, her special godchild Oliver and his brother Robin Hanson, and many loving cousins and supportive friends. She said that those special and close to her didn't need to be named; they would know who they are. Barbara was also an "honorary grandmother" to Emma, John Dennis, Ava and Anna.

"Don't be sad for me—I'm ready to go. I face great rejoicing by those who have gone before." —Barbara Clagett, August 29, 2012