Lois Maxine Barker (Smith)

SIOUX CITY -- Lois M. Barker, 83, of Sioux City went to her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, at 3 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010, at a local hospital surrounded by her family, after a brief illness.

Services will be 1 p.m. Wednesday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, with the Rev. Craig A. Collison officiating. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery. Visitation with the family will be 5 to 8 p.m. today, with a Third Order of Carmelites rosary at 6 p.m. and a parish vigil service at 7 p.m., at the church. Arrangements are under the direction of Berkemier Chapel, Christy-Smith Funeral Home. Condolences may be sent online to christysmith.com.

Lois Maxine Barker was born Aug. 6, 1926, in Sioux City, to Jacob and Anna (Weidert) Smith. A lifelong member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, she attended Catholic school in Riverside. She graduated from Central High School in 1943. She became a Bell Telephone operator, which explains her affinity for the phone as her favorite form of communications.

She met Airman Roy A. Barker in 1945, at Kresges Drug Store, where they both were waiting out a summer rain storm. They married on Valentine's Day in 1946. It was a 62-year love affair, interrupted for 16 months when Roy passed away on Sept. 9, 2008. Lois enjoyed being a cook at Sacred Heart School, after her boys reached school age.

In her Catholic devotion, she was a long-standing member of the Ladies of LaSallette, the Legion of Mary and the Third Order of Carmelites. She was a constant attendee at daily Mass and will be missed by the Sacred heart Breakfast Club. She was a member of the Siouxland Gem and Mineral Club. The rockhounds caravanned to South Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming and Montana. It fed her love of travel and adventure.

Roy and Lois also took trips back to Indiana, where she still had phone conversations with her sister-in-law, Helen, and many nieces. She traveled to Texas, Florida and Minnesota with Roy and her siblings. Her most special trips were to Rome and Fatima. She also traveled to Des Moines, where she got to see Pope John Paul II. She loved her trip to Mexico to see the Shrine of Guadalupe. Dearest to her heart, were the many fishing vacations at Dead Lake, Minn., with her parents, when her sons were young and to Lake Marion, Minn., with her grandsons and extended family.

She also enjoyed ceramics, crocheting and playing cards with her brothers, sisters and neighbors. She loved family picnics in the park. She was involved at the Sioux City Senior Center and all it's activities this past year. She was a ray of sunshine to friends at local nursing homes, especially Holy Spirit, where she attended Mass on Monday's. Lois' dining room table or patio swing were favorite gathering places for family and neighbors. She had a way with flowers and children. They all flourished under her tender care, especially Roy II.

She is survived by her three sons, Rodney A. Barker of Vermillion, S.D., Randy Barker and his wife, Nancy of Sioux City and Rory A. Barker and his fiancee, Carol Bligh, both of Sioux City; two brothers and their wives, Ronnie and Karen Smith and Denny and Karen Smith, all of Sioux City; seven grandchildren, Roy A. Barker II, Sonja Barker, Brett A. Barker, Leah Ackerman, Mary Adams, Coleman J. Barker and Ceith A. Barker; and 15 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; her brother and sister-in-law, Donald and Helen Smith; and her sister and brother-in-law, Louise and Jack Eybers.

Pallbearers will be her grandchildren.