Barbara Joanne (Postel) Magerfleisch passed away on August 29, 2021. She was born on June 9, 1931 to Verna (Kummer) and Roland Postel in Chicago, Illinois and had a younger sister, Karen, who died in 2001. A midwestern girl at heart, she often visited her grandmothers, Clara (Geitz) Kummer and Anna (Joseph) Postel, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She met her husband, Virgil R. Magerfleisch, when they were both attending the University of Colorado, and they were married on December 15, 1949. They made their home in Fort Collins, Colorado where Virgil was an architect, and they had two daughters, Marilee (John Hanson, Gary Brown) and Sandra (Ian Bailey). Virgil and Barb moved to South Bend, Indiana in 1978.
After Virgil’s death in 1997, Barb continued to live in South Bend and then joined Marilee and her family in Bozeman, Montana in 2016. Barb loved being near her granddaughter, Jessie (Brown), while she was growing up, and visits and video calls from her step-grandchildren, James Sarah Madison (orig. Jackie S. Hanson) and Ken A. Hanson (wife, Madison; great-grandsons, Finn and Niall). Sandy visited often from her home in London and was able, with James, to attend Barb’s 90th birthday celebration in June.
Barb also enjoyed living at Aspen Pointe, her independent living facility in Bozeman, where she met her best “later in life” buddy, Stafford Hall, and other good friends, until Covid-19 and associated lockdowns restricted social occasions and outings, and she required a higher level of care.
Barb died from congestive heart failure, after cognitive and other long-standing health issues worsened and significantly impacted her ability to enjoy life and communicate with others. She never lost her ability to recognize and remember loved ones.
Barb will be remembered as:
A promoter of culture and art,
A president of many organizations,
A booklover, literacy campaigner, and librarian
A traveler and explorer,
A collector of Native American art, modern furnishings, and design,
An active Republican who then became an enthusiastic Democrat,
A perfectionist, fighter, and defender of countless causes,
A proud wife and mother,
A believer and faithful Lutheran.
May she now take wing and return home to loving and waiting arms and be free of all worries and pain.
“If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” - Psalm 139.
