Barbara Jean Schmelzer, 84, passed away on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, surrounded by family, at the Wilton Retirement Center.
Visitation will be from 11 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. on Friday, November 8, 2024, at Grace Lutheran Church. Online condolences: www.wittichfuneralhome.com.
Services will be held at Grace Lutheran Church at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, November 8, 2024, with burial following at Greenwood Cemetery. Reverend Susan Bantz will officiate. Memorials may be made to Grace Lutheran Church. Luncheon will be held at Grace Lutheran Church immediately following the burial.
Barbara was born on September 10, 1940, in Muscatine, the daughter of George H. and Gretchen L. Bauer Ricketts. She met Gary DeWayne Schmelzer when they were three years old at Sunday School and remained lifelong members of Grace Lutheran Church. They married on March 2, 1957, in Kahoka, Missouri, and were blessed with 65 years and nine children together. He preceded her in death on November 28, 2022.
Barb was a lifelong member of Grace Lutheran Church and the Moose Lodge. She was a den mother for boy scouts and a girl scout leader for years. While raising her children, Barbara sold Avon and worked at Walmart for 7 years. She and Barb Connor owned B & B Painting for many years and she and her husband, Gary, owned Select Ceramics on Grandview Avenue for 20 years.
She enjoyed camping, art and painting, and rodeos. She loved sitting on her porch at their cabin on Lake Odessa. Overall, she enjoyed taking care of her grandchildren and loved going to their activities.
Barbara will be deeply missed by her children, James J. Schmelzer and wife, Dawn, of Porum, Oklahoma, Kurt Schmelzer and wife, Cindy, of Corning, Iowa, Eric Schmelzer and wife, Peggy, of Illinois, City, Anna Schmelzer of Wilton, Iowa, Cynthia Eagle and husband, Bob, of Muscatine, Vicki Carter and significant other, Ken, of Wapello, Iowa, and Jeana Howland and husband, Jamie, of Muscatine; 27 grandchildren; 50 great-grandchildren and two on the way; 1 great-great-grandson; siblings, Rose Ann Arnold and husband, Alfred, of Evansville, Wisconsin and James Ricketts and wife, Ann, of Minneapolis, Minnesota; daughter-in-law, Rayann Schmelzer; and sister-in-law, Tibe Vander Linden and husband, Doug.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Gary; sons, Gary W. Schmelzer and Wesley P. Schmelzer; granddaughter, Melanie J. Eagle; great-granddaughter, Laraine Ash.
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