Myra Barrow Halbrook was born near Seattle Washington in 1927. She rode by train to Omaha as a toddler with her newly divorced single mother who was also named “Myra”. Along with them were her beloved older sister Avis Barrow, older beloved brother David Barrow and a baby brother Robert. The year was 1931 and pneumonia took the baby brother shortly after their arrival in Omaha.
Myra and her brothers and sisters grew up in Benson, a suburb of Omaha in the backdrop of the Great Depression. Despite the economic woes, the family prospered with love and all the excitement, adventure and good-natured laughter you can have in Omaha. They moved in with her mother’s sister, also named Avis, and shared a big house with every bed filled, including one for Myra’s grandmother, Theresa Vine Roberts, an Omaha pioneer who had arrived in Omaha by covered wagon in the late 1800s.
Myra graduated from Benson High School in 1945. She had many stories of riding the streetcar to downtown Omaha, the center of everything. She worked for Bell Telephone as a switchboard operator and had countless, silly stories of all the prank phone calls that operators received during that time. She also worked in the china department of the big department store, Brandeis. One summer she traveled to Pickstown, SD to work as a typist for the Corp. of Engineers alongside her mother who also worked for the Corp. of Engineers.
In the late 1940s, Myra and Avis, the young sisters, moved to Portland, Oregon. There she worked as a switchboard operator for a large oil company. After a couple of years, her sister Avis married and stayed in Portland, but Myra returned to be with her mother and aunt and brother back in Omaha.
After taking classes at Omaha University, Myra met Paul Halbrook, a WW11 vet and straight-A student. Legend has it that he proposed to her in the swimming pool at Peony Park. They married at the First Presbyterian Church and had their wedding reception at the Blackstone Hotel.
Myra spent her most active years being a doting mother to her only daughter Jody whom she had at the late age of 38. The small family would take three-week long camping trips in the summer to many National Parks, traveling as far as Canada and Mexico with the trailer in tow.
Myra loved sing-a-longs, movies, supporting the arts, reading the newspaper, shopping, garage sales, gardening, nature, day trips to small towns, spending time in parks and walking the dog. She much preferred to dine out than dine in.
Myra did not have a large circle of friends, but yet she made friends wherever she went with her amazing ability to strike up a friendly conversation with perfect strangers.
In her later years, she was a caretaker for her mother, brother and husband. Finally, when it was her time to be taken care of, she lived the last ten years of her life in the loving care of the nurses, medical assistants, social workers and recreational staff of both Bickford Assisted Living and the Douglas County Health Center. She made the most of every day in the facilities enjoying music and arts and crafts and special friendships.
Myra loved Omaha. She said she was an “Omaha Girl,” and it was the only place she wanted to be. Myra died peacefully in her bed at age 94 on Thursday, August 11, 2022.
She is survived by her daughter Jody Lovallo, son-in-law Vincent Lovallo, grandchild K. Casey Lovallo; nephew Ken Crockett, niece Marlene Crockett, great niece Lori Crockett and cousin Ditty Barrow.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Nebraska Humane Society in memory of Myra Halbrook.
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Nebraska Humane Society8929 Fort Street, Omaha, NE 68134
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