Barbara Jean Smead

Barbara Jean Smead (Welter, Franklin) of Austin, Texas, died peacefully in her sleep on Wednesday, August 28, 2024 at the age of 88. Barbara was born March 22, 1936 to Mary Dorothy and Martin Stringer Welter in Detroit, Michigan. She grew up on a number of small farms around Southeast Michigan to hard-working parents who provided for and protected their children through the Great Depression and the war years. Barbara was the eldest of six children. She was preceded in death by her sister Shirley (Russell) Phillips and her brother Kenneth (Rebecca) Welter, as well as by her parents, Mary in 1992 and Martin in 1969. She is survived by her sisters Joyce (Ronald) Wild and Linda (Jack) McConnell and her brother John (Donna) Welter. Barbara graduated as valedictorian of Britton-Macon Agricultural School in 1954. She attended Detroit Bible Institute (now William Tyndale College), where she met Gordon Richard Franklin, whom she married in 1958. They had four children, all of whom survive: Jeanette, Richard (Ayesha), Daniel (Kalolaine), and James (Katherine). Richard and Ayesha have four children: John (Chloe), Katherine, Zachary, and Zara; Daniel and Kalo have one son, Daniel. After a divorce from Gordon and his passing in 1985, Barbara, or Barb, moved to Saline, Michigan to be near her mother. Barb met Wayne R. Smead through mutual friends, and the two were married in1990. Barb became a second mom to Wayne’s grown children: Yvonne, Roger (Sandy), Elizabeth (David) Aitken, and Darren (Moravia). She also became grandma to Yvonne’s daughter Valerie, Darren and Moravia’s daughter Eladia, Roger and Sandy’s children Chuck, Becky (Leo) Buehler, Russell (Marlene), Kyle, and J-T (Dawnae) Richards; great-grandma to Russell and Marlene’s children Luke, Elijah, Selah, and Eden; Kyle’s son Tyler Fifield; J-T and Dawnae’s children Trey (Casey), Alysa, and Grayce; and great-great grandma to Trey and Casey’s son Trystan. Barb was also mom to Carol (Luis) Dimech; grandma to their sons Christopher (Janet ), Michael, and Luis (Lexi); and great grandma to Christopher and Janet’s children Christopher, or CJ, and Gabriela; and Luis and Lexi’s children William and Abigail. Barb and Wayne were both active members of the First United Methodist Church in Saline, Michigan. They moved to East Leroy, Michigan, in 2002 to be close to Richard and Ayesha, who built a house next door. Barb continued to live in East Leroy after Wayne’s death in 2006, moving with Richard and Ayesha to Hastings, Michigan in 2015. In December of that year, she moved to Castaic, California with Dan, Kalo, and Daniel. She continued to live in the Los Angeles area, eventually on her own again, until she followed Dan and his family to Austin, Texas, in January of 2023. Barb worked a number of jobs over the years, including as a telephone operator at a bank and as a Title I paraprofessional at her children’s elementary school, Green Acres in Warren, Michigan. She went back to school with four young children at home to get her associate’s degree in nursing from Macomb Community College and passed her state boards to become a Registered Nurse in 1980. Barb worked as a nurse in several settings, including a small suburban hospital (Martin Place East), a private psychiatric hospital (Glen Eden), Hospice of Southeast Michigan, and the state forensic hospital in Ypsilanti. She continued her nursing career by volunteering as a parish nurse at Saline FUMC. She was always a nurse at heart and shared stories over the years with all of the medical staff and caregivers who worked with her. Barb was an avid bird watcher, baker, and colorer. She always kept a journal and read her Bible. She loved to play the piano and to crochet, primarily blankets, and was famous for her cookies and caramel corn. She was a serious but critical Detroit Tigers fan, until she took up the Los Angeles Dodgers. Barb was also preceded in death by her dear friend from the Detroit Bible Institute, Shirley Chumley, who loved to hate the Tigers as much as she did; and by her “sister” Carolyn Stafford, her longtime traveling partner, whom she lovingly called “Callie.” A memorial service will be held graveside at Arborcrest Memorial Park in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Saturday, September 21, at 11:00 A.M., followed by interment with her beloved Wayne. Pastor Amy Triebwasser will officiate the service. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Suncrest Hospice Foundation of Austin, Texas (suncrestcare.com/suncrestcares-foundation); Simple Sparrow Care Farm (simplesparrow.farm/donate), or The Gideons International (gideons.org/donate). To leave a memory you have of Barbara, to sign her guestbook, or for directions please visit www.rbfhsaline.com.

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Barbara Jean Smead

March 22, 1936 - August 28, 2024