Barbara Brooks Siegle

Barbara Brooks Siegle, age 76, of Merlin, died Wednesday, March 10, 2013 at Arbor House of Grants Pass.

A celebration of life will be at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 3, 2013 at Grants Pass Community Church on Russell Road with Pastor Ed Forbes officiating. Hull & Hull Funeral Directors are in charge of arrangements.

Barbara was born on January 11, 1937 in Los Angeles, California to Donald Eugene Stevenson and Wilma Verian Stevenson. Ten years later, the family, including 3 year old Dale Howard, relocated to Thomas Mountain near Idyllwild, California. After a 5 year venture operating a restaurant and cabin facility, they moved to Terwilliger in the Anza Valley and adapted existing buildings to open a country store and gas station. It was here that Barbara grew to love horses, the Cahuilla Indians, and the beginnings of her lifelong devotion to God and the Bible. She graduated from Hemet Union High School in 1954 and was accepted in the first graduating class at the new University of California at Riverside. Barb received her BS in 1959 majoring in Psychology and went to work as an Employment Counselor for the California Department of Employment in Riverside. In 1964, the State developed a program to improve the proficiency of existing counselors. The pilot program to evaluate the premise was selecting 20 individuals from all offices in the state. Barb and 19 others were chosen to receive a fully paid Masters of Arts in Education with classes starting in the fall of 1964. She met Wayne F. Siegle during a break for the holidays in January, 1966 and received her degree in August. They were married on September 3, 1966 at the church in Terwilliger. They lived for 3 years in the Riverside area while Wayne worked nights and attended California Polytechnic University during the day. Barbara continued to work for the Department of Employment until he received his BS in June, 1969. In 1970, the property was sold to relocate to the Hood River Valley, Oregon. Barb enjoyed their 30 acre ranch with, of course, her 2 horses, cattle, and goats. 1978 brought another move to Canton, Illinois and a full time job in farming and in 1981, another job in Manning, Iowa. Providence would provide the opportunity as the Farm Manager of an 1800 acre minimum security prison in Newton, Iowa. They purchased the 40 ranch in Monroe, Iowa growing corn and soybeans. Barbara was always a person to fill the available time and volunteered part-time as an assistant librarian in the Monroe Elementary School. This led to a full time job in the library and being asked to set up a 20 station Computer Lab. With the combining of Monroe and Prairie City school districts, Barb was the obvious choice to be the I.T. coordinator for PCM with responsibility for over 700 computers. She loved to garden and volunteered to be a 4H Leader, Boy and Cub Scout Den Mother, working with the goats and being a mother to her own kids.

Barb was a member of the Church of the Living Word in Kalona, Iowa. This involvement went back to their moves to Mt. Hood, OR, Canton, IL and Monroe, IA. The Pastor suggested Grants Pass, Oregon as a nice area to enjoy their retirement years. They moved to the Grants Pass area in February, 2002 and she became heavily involved at the Grants Pass Community Church with time to volunteer for whatever needed doing. Most notable were meals for the 60 member congregation. This evolved into fellowship time 2 nights and week with lunch for the Saturday Work Day. The “shopping list” for those meals was filled by Barb during the week and she went down to assist with preparation. Working with the computer techs in Kalona and GPCC, she helped streamline the accounting system until more versatile programs could be obtained.

Survivors include her husband, Wayne F. Siegle of Merlin, Oregon; children, Cherrie A. Hubbard of Springfield, Minnesota, Allen F. Siegle of Omaha, Nebraska, Jeremy D Siegle of Honolulu, Hawaii and Shane M. Siegle of Waukee, Iowa; a brother Dale H. Stevenson of Grand Prairie, Texas; four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Barbara was preceded in death by parents, D.E. and W.V. Stevenson and grandparents Herbert L. and Inez M Brooks