My mom and Aunt Barbara were high school friends, and she called my mom while we were on vacation in California and said, “the house across the street is for sale, get home and buy it”! We did and I instantly inherited many additional close family friends; ”aunts, uncles, cousins…etc" who also lived in the neighborhood.
Aunt Barbara and Uncle Jim’s home sat squarely in the “in bounds” portion of our hide and seek arena.  The front porch made an excellent hiding spot, and their unfenced back yard meant you always had an escape route by running around the house, through the back yard, and down the other driveway.  Likewise, their roof ridgeline served as the home run boundary for tennis balls batted from my front porch, but balls bouncing short of the ridgeline could be caught off the roof for a fly out.  Us boys were hard on their grass, trees, shrubs and they had no privacy whatsoever as we rampaged through their back yard.
Aunt Barbara kept four to six cats.  I had a part corgi mutt named Doody Woo who could climb the back fence and hated cats.  By grabbing both sides of Doody’s head and directing his attention to a lounging cat across the street, I could get an awesome show as he made a mad dash across the street with murderous intent.  Frequently, the battle happened on their back patio and it was an awesome ruckus!  Mostly they scattered and fled but sometimes one or more got cornered up against their back door and that’s’ when the fur flew!  Nobody got seriously hurt.  But, Aunt Barbara’s cats had the last laugh, as Doody was killed by a car while running across the street to chase them.  At least Doody died happy.
My point is that I gave Aunt Barabara many things to be upset with me about, but I never received a cross word from her.  Not once.  When I came into her presence, her face lit up with a big smile and she called me by name.  I am thankful for having her in my life and she has a great legacy of many who I’m sure feel the same.

I've known Barbara and her husband, Jimmy since high school.  Barbara and I were in the school choir and Jimmy and I were on the football team.   They are two of the nicest people I know.   After finding out that Barbara had passed away, I wanted to send my condolences to Jimmy, their family and their close friends.  I'm saddened by her death, and I'm saddened that I missed knowing them all of the years since high school.

Dan Schmiech
Class of 1959

I and my sons are so sorry to hear about Barbara's passing. I know she was a special wife, mother and friend and will be missed.

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Barbara Ann Ethridge

7 May, 1941 – 2 December, 2024

Earthman Resthaven Funeral Home and Cemetery

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