Barbara Macke

Barbara J. Macke, 86, fortified with the sacraments of Christ's Episcopal Church died on Tuesday, December 12, 2023 in Newburgh, Indiana, after a long journey with vascular dementia. Dear Mother of Beth Macke (Mark Sellars) Corydon, Kentucky, James (Jim) A. Macke, St. Louis, Marianne Macke-Swier, St. Louis. Dear Grandma of William Dale Macke White, Corydon, Kentucky, and Madeleine Swier, St. Louis. Dear sister to Carolyn Schlicher (nee Marten), Eldon, Missouri. Dear neighbor of Vicki Rea and Tobias and Maria Barabas. She was preceded in death by her husband, James Paul Macke, her mother, Alice G. Marten and her father, Ralph Emmel.

Barb was born in 1937 in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, and spent some years in Farmington, Missouri, before moving to the City of St. Louis with her mother and her stepfather, Allen A. Marten. She graduated from Beaumont High School and worked as an X-ray Technician. She earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Notre Dame College while raising three children and then taught at Notre Dame High School with the late Sister Leonida Speh, SSND. Barb then trained to be an Ultrasound Technician, and eventually worked as an Ultrasound Instructor for St. Louis Community College-Forest Park.

Barb always had a menagerie of animals at the house on Violaview Drive. She loved being outside and being with animals. She was a passionate Democrat and unafraid to voice opinions on issues that were important to her. She also loved genealogy and was a member of the General Samuel Hopkins Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution in Henderson, Kentucky.

Barb was an avid volunteer. She translated documents to Braille for the Missouri Society for the Blind. She served as a Girl Scout Leader and Summer Day Camp Director. She volunteered at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and the Women's NCAA Final Four in 2001 in St. Louis. She volunteered at the St. Louis Zoo for 26 YEARS, including ten years at the Butterfly House. After moving to Newburgh, Indiana, volunteered at Wesselman Woods in Evansville for over two years.

She was a member of the Home League of The Salvation Army Gateway Citadel Corps Community Center and graded home study Bible exams on their behalf.

In St. Louis, Barb attended the early service of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, where she was a member of the Altar Guild and the Vestry, a graduate of the Education for Ministry Program of the University of the South, a delegate to Diocesan Convention, and a volunteer at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 2012. After moving to Newburgh, she attended the early service and Sunday School at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Evansville.

Services in Evansville will be at Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, 301 SE 1st Street, on Thursday, January 4th. Visitation will be from 12:30 to 1:30 PM at St. Paul's. The service will begin at 2 PM followed by a reception in Webb Hall at St. Paul's. The Rev. Holly Rankin Zaher will officiate.

Services in St. Louis will be at Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, 4712 Clifton Ave, St. Louis, MO at 11 AM followed by interment at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery at 12:45 PM on Friday, January 12. Visitation will be at Hoffmeister Funeral Home, 1515 Lemay Ferry Rd, St. Louis, MO from 3 PM to 6 PM on Thursday, January 11 and at St. Mark's Episcopal Church from 9:30 AM to 10:30 PM on Friday, January 12. The Rev. Pamela Stuerke will officiate.

Expressions of Sympathy make take the form of contributions to ASPCA, Episcopal Relief and Development, the St. Louis Zoo, or a charity of your choice.