Obituary: TIMMS, BARBARA

Barbara Mae Thompson Timms 1944 ~ 2012Barbara passed away May 17, 2012 at her home with loved ones by her side after a 17-month battle with Pancreatic Cancer that resulted in a massive stroke. She was born on April 30th, 1944 to Maude Sophia Wixom and Irwin Albert Thompson, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The oldest of two children born to Maude and Irwin and the third child of Irwin's, Barbara is survived by all of her siblings, Kathy Staker, Gary Thompson and Dorothy Canet and her 98 year old father Irwin. She married Ralph Jettie in 1966 and had one daughter, Anna August, before divorcing. In 1974 she married Reginald Timms in Carson City, NV and had two daughters, Regina Lynn Hambrick and Patricia A. Timms-McGehee. In 1994, Barbara and Reginald divorced and she remained single. Between her three daughters, Barbara was a grandmother to eight: Ali, Nicole, Madeline, Lukas, Alina, Nolan, Fischer and Finley, and a great-grandmother to one: Aiden, and is survived by all. In 1996, at the age of 50, Barbara graduated from Philip's Jr. Business College with a paralegal degree which was used in a variety of ways at 3M in Murray, Utah. She retired in 2007 and worked part time for Stevens Henager College in the admissions department. In her free time Barbara darted back and forth from Utah to Idaho and California visiting her children and grandchildren. She was incredibly talented at cooking, crocheting and crafting gifts for her friends and family, having made numerous afghans, aprons, stuffed animals, needlework and other special crafts even after her initial diagnosis in 2011 and continued new projects until she passed. Barbara was aware that her pancreatic cancer was terminal from the time she was diagnosed but in seventeen months she never let it slow her down or break her spirit. She rose every day with a smile on her face and happy tone in her voice. She proudly wore purple in recognition of pancreatic cancer and considered every day beyond the three months she was initially given, an accomplishment. Her longevity under such dire circumstances consistently astonished her doctors and caregivers all the way through to the end. Barbara was a special, kind-hearted woman who will be greatly missed by everyone she knew. Services are to be held at Murrieta Valley Funeral Home on Monday, May 21, 2012 from 1pm to 5pm, with reception services and a celebration of her life to follow at her daughter, Patricia's, home in Corona, California. The family would like to thank her doctors: Dr. Whisenant at The Huntsman Cancer Center in Salt Lake City, Utah where she was treated for the first 12 months of her disease and Dr. Shinke and his associates at Loma Linda University Hospital Murrieta in California where she moved to live with and be cared for by her daughters until the end. A big thank you especially to Rebecca, Beatrice and Pastor Pat from Corona Regional Hospice for such delicate care for Barbara and her family. Her cremation niche is located at Olivewood Memorial Cemetery in Riverside, California, column B, #5.