Nola Mae Barker, 63, died April 21, 2006, at Tigard after a long, hard-fought, eight-year battle with metastatic breast cancer.
Her funeral will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St. Pastor Roger Scovil of the Baker City Christian Church will officiate. Vault interment will be at the Haines Cemetery. Visitation will be until 7 o’clock tonight and from 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday at the funeral home.
Nola was born July 11, 1942, at Rich Hill, Mo., the third of seven children, to Arthur Merl and Rosalene Verdean Barker of Nevada, Mo.
Nola spent the early part of her childhood in Missouri, moving to Southern California when she was 7. While in California, she met and married the father of her three wonderful children.
After spending a number of years in Alaska, she moved back to the lower states, spending time in Nevada, Missouri, Montana and Oregon. She spent the last 10 years of her life caring for her aging and ailing parents despite battling for her own life by enduring various chemotherapy treatments, multiple surgeries and a stem cell transplant.
Her courage, strength and stamina were second to none. Most recently she was blessed with the loving care and compassion of the wonderful staff at Oregon Health & Sciences University.
She was preceded in death by her infant son, Arthur Daniel Cole; her two brothers, Alan Eugene Barker and Larry Merl Barker; her father, Merle, and mother, Verdean.
During her final days of life it was comforting for Nola to know she would soon be reunited with her brother, Larry, who died in 1989.
Survivors include three children, Julie Ann Long of Kennewick, Wash., Paul Cole of Baker City, and Janet Johnson of Tigard; her sisters, Evelyn Boyd and Sharlene Sisson both of Nevada, Mo., and Carol Anderson of Moro, Minn.; her brother, Thomas H. Barker of Independence, Mo.; sister-in-law, Pam Barker of Baker City; seven grandsons, two granddaughters, one great-grandson and one great-granddaughter.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, April 28, 2006
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor