Carmen Natalie Barnard Bumgardner

Bumgardner, Carmen N. Carmen Natalie Barnard was born in Athensville, Illinois on January 11, 1926 to Myrtle Gladys Barnard. She was an only child. She lived, off and on, with her grandparents, William and Lola Izora Barnard, while her mother worked as a residential caretaker with various patients in Illinois and the Midwest. Carmen had many pleasant memories of her grandparents’ farm in Athensville. Since her mother’s life was a bit nomadic due to her occupation, Carmen also lived in several other towns in Illinois and Missouri, in Wenatchee, Washington and later, as a young adult, in Chicago where she worked as a secretary. During WWII, she worked in a munitions plant, helping to manufacture bullets for the war effort. In June, 1946, she wed the love of her life, Everett Paul Bumgardner. After their marriage, she welcomed Everett’s two children, Paul Edward and Drucilla Mae, into her life and daughter Barbara Ann was born in 1947. They lived in Springfield before moving to San Diego in 1951. Between 1952 and 1956, Carmen worked at General Dynamics/Convair in San Diego. Since she was a petite woman, she was assigned the job of crawling inside the wings of B52 bombers to solder the joints. She quit this job when she became pregnant with her last child. She had grown too big to squeeze into the tiny wing openings! Daughter Candace Marie was born in 1957. Carmen was a homemaker par excellence who enjoyed entertaining family and friends. She would plan and execute wonderful themed parties and was an excellent cook. She made many elaborately decorated cakes for birthdays and weddings. When she was 40, Carmen decided to finish her high school education. She went to Midway Adult School and finally received her high school diploma. Her family was quite proud of this accomplishment. It was while she was in school that she discovered her love of writing. She began by writing poetry, publishing 3 volumes of verses. Carmen was also a songwriter. Although she had no musical training, she would hum-sing into a tape recorder until she had a rough version of the song that her musical friends could translate into sheet music for her. She studied the art of songwriting and became friends with such notables as Tommy Boyce and Al Kasha. Several local San Diego musicians, including Danny Antell, Denny and Christie Anderson, as well as her youngest daughter, Candy, recorded some of her songs and 45 rpm “demo” records were pressed. She became a member of BMI, ASCAP and the Country Music Association. Then, she shopped these recordings to artists in Los Angeles and Nashville. While she never hit the “big time” with her music, she certainly enjoyed the process of sharing her songs with others. Later in life, Carmen joined a writer’s club in Point Loma. She still had some interesting stories she wanted to tell, so she began to write novels, self-publishing 5 more books. She created many beautiful word pictures with her writing, and again, her family was very proud of her. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Carmen worked part-time at Many Hands, an artists’ cooperative in Hillcrest. She made and sold many hand-crafted items, including stained glass windows, found-object art, and decorative 3-dimentional pictures assembled from greeting cards. She also sewed, crocheted, painted, and stitched clothing using appliqué and machine-embroidery techniques. She taught some of the women at Kehilat Ariel Synagogue how to quilt and made many elaborate and fanciful quilts herself, with Everett’s help. She was generous with her time and talents and had a gift for making people love her. Among her friends, she had countless “adopted” daughters and sons who looked upon her as a “mother” to them. Carmen and Everett enjoyed square dancing, reading, RVing, travel, the Red Hat Society, and studying Messianic Judaism at Kehilat Ariel Synagogue. They also enjoyed spending time with family and friends. In January of 2013, her husband Everett passed away. They had been married 67 years. After his death, Carmen was still able to live in her own home, cared for by Dusty, Barbi, and son-in-law, Roger. She continued to enjoy Red Hat Society outings and looked forward to visits from Ed and her baby, Candy. Carmen passed away at home surrounded by her loved ones on July 12, 2016. She was 90 years, 6 months, and 1 day old. She is survived by her 4 children, Ed Bumgardner, Dusty Block, Barbi Steinmetz, and Candy Beck, 9 grandchildren, 15 great grandchildren and 10 great-great grandchildren. A Memorial Service for Carmen will be held at Kehilat Ariel Synagogue in San Diego at a time to be determined. In lieu of flowers, donations should be made to the Jewish National Fund to plant trees in Israel. www.jnf.org