Barbara Soucy

B arbara Soucy died in Sabetha, Kansas on June 25, 2013.  The daughter of Paul and Lorene Stone, she was born in Oneida, Kansas on May 25,1933. Her father was a school teacher, and she became a teacher herself.  She was a scholarship student at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas where she graduated with a combined B.ED/English major in 1955.  She taught at various elementary schools, finishing her teaching career at Lake Ridge Academy in Elyria, Ohio, where she taught students in grades three and four.

One of her daughters, also a teacher, said she “was born to teach.”  Barbara believed that the secret to being a successful teacher was “to know what you were talking about, to be an engaged listener, and to connect with each child at the level of the individual.”  At the time of her retirement from teaching, she had taught for three decades.

In 1968-69 and again in 1973-74, Barbara lived in Paris, France with her daughters and husband and traveled extensively through Europe.  In France, she became a life-long friend of the Lacot Family in Dijon, France.  She loved literature, history, the French language and French cuisine.  Her daughters remember the special dishes she cooked with great fondness.

Barbara also loved nature and animals, including her beloved dogs, Penny and Charlie. After she retired from teaching, she moved to Holton, Kansas where she made many friends and was a volunteer librarian at the Beck Bookman Library, as well as the treasurer of several local women’s organizations.  .

She is survived by her brother Gerry, two daughters—Anne Marie Brinsmead and Alissa Bernice McBride— and three grandchildren: Alan Brinsmead and Patrick and Sara McBride.

Barbara was cremated.  She requested no services.  The inurnment will be in the Sabetha Cemetery.