Thornton, Barbara Lynn 1946-2013

THORNTON, BRIGGS, VAN WINKLE, HANSEN, JACOBSEN

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 4/3/2025 at 14:20:14

Barbara Lynn Thornton
1946-2013
Mason City, IA

Simpson College
University of Minnesota
FUNERAL HOME
Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel
310 1st Avenue North
Clear Lake, Iowa

Barbara Thornton Obituary
MASON CITY | Barbara Lynn Thornton passed away peacefully in her sleep on Oct. 9, 2013, in her home. She was 67 years old and has been at home at Heritage Care in Mason City for 20 years.

A private graveside memorial service will be scheduled in the future for immediate family, when she will be buried at Clear Lake Cemetery.

The family suggests memorials in Barbara's name to Heritage Care Center at 501 S. Kentucky Ave., Mason City, IA 50401; the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Upper Midwest Chapter at 200 12th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55415, or julie.collier@nmss.org.; or the Susan G. Komen (breast cancer research) Iowa chapter at Box 8468, Des Moines, IA 50301, or www.komeniowa.org.

Barbara Lynn Thornton was born Sept. 15, 1946, in New Haven, Conn., the daughter of Joseph and Frances (Briggs) Van Winkle. She graduated from Valley High School in West Des Moines, and Simpson College in Indianola, and taught high school English in Des Moines and the Twin Cities. Barbara received her M.A. in speech communication, completed course work toward her PhD from the University of Minnesota, where she taught speech, communication, and English as a second language (ESL).

She continued to live in the Twin Cities area and worked as a management trainer and consultant in inter-cultural communication for many corporations, ending her career at the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

After retirement, she returned to Des Moines, where she volunteered as an ESL teacher. In 1993, Barbara moved to Heritage Care Center in Mason City.

Before her convalescence, Barbara was an adventurer and trainer/teacher, sharing her love of people, travel and nature with all she met. She delighted in beautiful colors, art, and photos and her love for Jesus, whom she "talked to all the time," as she recently told her sisters.

Her indomitable spirit still shone as she composed a letter to her friends and family last spring embracing life outside her window, good food with her family, and accepting the unanswerable questions with grace and humor to the very end. She will be missed by all she met: God Speed, Dear Barbara!

She is survived by sisters Patty Hansen and husband Bill/Dave of Clear Lake and Beverly Jacobsen of Yorba Linda, Calif., and brother Joe Van Winkle and wife Jean of Des Moines. Nieces are Jennifer, Laura, and Emma and nephew Seth.

Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, 101 N. Fourth St., Clear Lake, IA 50428, 641-357-2193, ColonialChapels.com

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Globe Gazette on Oct. 13, 2013 and the Des Moines (IA) Register 13 October 2013.