Barbara Jean Andreasen

Our beautiful mother, Barbara Andreasen, passed away peacefully in her Ivins, Utah home on Thursday, June 6, 2024.  We have no doubt she was immediately reunited with our dad, Jim, who preceded her six years ago.

Barbara was born in 1943 in Washington, DC to George and Gladys (Hendershot) Kappel.  She met a handsome Army private one night at a Church youth activity at the Capital Ward in DC.  She was 16 and was serving as the Young Women’s President, and Jim was stationed at Brandywine, Maryland and had decided to see what cute girls were at Church that night.  Dad gave her a ride home that night, and the rest is family history.  They were married after mom graduated from high school, and she always made sure to mention that while she was only 17, she was almost 18!  They were married the 27th of October, 1961 and traveled across the continent the next year to be sealed in the Los Angeles Temple on June 9, 1962. She regularly said that was the single most important day in her whole life.

During that time, dad was stationed at Ft. Sill in Lawton, OK, and served in the Army until September 1962. That same month their oldest child, Randall James Andreasen, was born.  After his Army career, dad worked as a Fuller Brush salesman, then an encyclopedia salesman, and then at a Superex Drugstore.  Superex took them to Phoenix, AZ, and then to Prescott, AZ.  While in Arizona, their second son, Grant Knude Andreasen, joined their little family.

With a hungry, growing family, they decided it was time to improve their situation.  Mom and dad and their two sons moved to Huntington Beach, California.  Dad began taking classes at Orange Coast Junior College in Costa Mesa, and would deliver milk on the side.  In April of 1967, their third son, Richard William Andreasen, was born, and they packed up again and headed to Provo, Utah, where dad completed his B.S. and his M.S. degrees at BYU.  During the Provo years, their family continued to grow, with Amy being born in May of 1970 and Emily in September 1972. 

From Provo they went to Oregon for more schooling for dad, and then back to the East Coast, where they lived for a time with Grandma Kappel in Pennsylvania, and then to Maryland, Texas, Oklahoma, and then to Virginia.  In every place they lived, mom actively served in the Church, usually rotating between being the Relief Society president or the Young Women’s president, with stints in the Primary in between.

Once dad retired from the federal government, they served a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Sydney Australia North Mission, where they worked in the mission office taking care of hundreds of missionaries who all considered them a second set of parents. Once the mission was over, they relocated one last time to Ivins, Utah, where they have lived and served now for more than 20 years. Together they served in the Southern Utah Veterans Home for many years.  She also taught Primary for many years in their ward in Ivins, and was still getting visits from her “Primary kids” even recently. Mom has always put her Savior Jesus Christ first in her life.  Her relationship with Him was the most important thing in her life, and it has left a legacy for her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren.

Mom was preceded in death by the love of her life, Jim, who passed in 2018, her parents George and Gladys, brother Bill, and sister Mary Bell. She is survived and sorely missed by her children: Randy, Grant, Rick, Amy and Emily and their spouses, by her 24 grandchildren and 47 great-grandchildren (with 3 more on their way), and two great-great grandchildren.  Emily and her two sons, RJ and Cameron, moved in with mom two years ago to help take care of her, and have been a wonderful blessing to the rest of the family who lives out of the area.  The rest of the family is grateful for their loving devotion and service.

A viewing will be held at the Ivins Heritage LDS Stake Center at 240 E 1060 S, Ivins, Utah on Saturday, June 15, 2024 from 9:00 a.m.. to 10:30 a.m., with a funeral service at the same location beginning at 11:00 a.m., with the interment to follow at the Ivins Cemetery. 

In lieu of flowers, the family has suggested that any desired donations be made to the Southern Utah Veterans Home, 160 N 200 E, Ivins, UT 84738.