Alberta "Butch" Underwood

Alberta “Butch” Underwood, age 92, of Grants Pass, died Friday, October 28, 2011 at Royale Gardens Health & Rehabilitation Center.

No services are planned, per her request. Private interment will be at Eagle Point National Cemetery. Hull & Hull Funeral Directors are in charge of arrangements.

She was born Albertha Van’t Land July 20, 1919 in Nijkerk, the Netherlands the 6th of 7 children born to Teunis Van’t Land & Gerritje Termaat. The family arrived in the United States through Ellis Island in 1920 in northwest Iowa. As a young woman she moved to California and married Lloyd Barksdale and together they had two children before later divorcing. On February 18, 1978 in Oxnard, California she married Harold “Hal” Underwood. In 1984 she moved from California to Cave Junction, Oregon. After the death of her husband in 2007 she moved to Redwood Terrace Assisted Living in Grants Pass where she spent her life until a heart attack necessitated a move to Royale Gardens.

Alberta was active in the Illinois Valley Garden Club; The Extension; and the Illinois Valley Golf Association.

Her hobbies included gardening, making Raggedy Ann dolls, quilting, and making ribbon flowers.

Survivors include a son, Terry Lee Barksdale of Bangkok, Thailand; three stepdaughters, Marilyn Barksdale Packard of Los Angeles, California, Marcia Underwood of Portland, Oregon, and Karen Underwood of Santa Ynez, California; two daughters-in-law, Linda Gomez of Long Beach, California and Dena Barksdale of Bellflower, California; many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and many friends who will miss her.

She was preceded in death by her parents; brothers, Jan “John,” Jacob, Marinus, and Willem “Bill,” and sisters, Teunisje “Tillie,” and Willempje “Winnie;” son, Clyde William “Tinker” Barksdale; and stepsons, Lloyd Barksdale and Marvin Barksdale..