Lela Jeanne Barr

A memorial service to celebrate her life will be held on Sunday, January 28, at 1:30 at Memorial Funeral Home and Memorial Park Cemetery, 1217 Business Loop 70 W. Columbia, MO.

Jeanne was born on November 16, 1922 in Valley Falls, Kansas, to Charles Henry Taylor and Elsie Ella Ashley. Her family moved to a farm just outside of Columbia when she was 13 and she attended Jefferson Jr. High School and Hickman High School. She graduated from Hickman High School in 1940 and the University of Missouri in Education, in 1943. She received a Masters Degree in Spanish from the University of Missouri in 1960. Jeanne’s teaching career spanned 26 years, 19 of those years were spent teaching Spanish and Latin at Hickman High School. She was also in charge of producing Hickman’s yearbook, the “Cresset”, for 8 years. She retired in 1979.

Jeanne was a 30-year member of the Columbia chapter of the Audubon Society, serving as president, secretary and newsletter editor over the years. She was also a long-time, active member of Friends of Rockbridge Memorial State Park. Jeanne served as the first president for the Nature Plant Society of Boone County. She was an active member of the Boone County Historical Society and a board member for several years in Columbia’s chapter of Planned Parenthood. In 1943 Jeanne received the Pi Lambda Theta honorary education award. She served as secretary for the state-wide Spanish and Portuguese Language Teachers Association from 1958-59. Jeanne is an Altrusa International Award – District 8 recipient.

She is preceded in death by her parents, her two sisters, Sue Mae Morris and Doris Burnett, her two brothers, Paul and Delton Taylor, her niece, Nancy Burnett and her husband of almost 70 years, Vernon Barr.

She is survived by her children, Carolyn Van Sciver of Denver, CO, Bonnie Morgan of Corvallis, MT, David Barr of Watauga, TX, and Jayme Nobles of Clearwater, FL. She has three granddaughters and three great grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Audubon Society or a charity of your choice in her name.