"I was born in a house in Van Buren County where my Barker ancestors lived. Arthur Barker, youngest brother of Mollie Barker Loofbourrow, was my grandfather. I enjoyed life in the community of Keosauqua ‏(pop. 100?)‏ with cats for pets, swings for swinging and a carefree life. Dad helped build roads in the county."
"I liked Bible ‏(pre)‏ School and then I began real school in first grade. ‏(I finally had to break myself of thumb-sucking)‏. I finished third grade and began fourth in a country one-room school as we lived with mom's parents for the summer on the farm that year."
"I always enjoyed my 'vacations' years after that on the farm - cats, chickens, pigs, sheep, cattle, pony 'Dickie' and work horses. Afternoon naps with Grandma Barker reading aloud from the Bobbsey Twins were routine. She always licked her finger to turn the pages. Riding the hayrack behind a team of horses to help 'make hay' was during hot weather - fun for me, not for those doing the work! Attending the county fair, sitting in grandpa's 'box' seat to watch sulky horseracing, Uncle Rob counting my ribs ‏(tickling)‏ and the strong smell from the cigar smoking Barkers, completed my summer each year."
"Our move to the big city of Fairfield, pop. 7000, meant living in a rented house with a bathroom! I went to a brick school building ‏(Washington School)‏ with nine grades. I made new friends and several lived on Main Street which was also Highway One. One sidewalk was new and smooth and was a good place for my hobby of roller skating - the kind of skates you fastened to the leather soles of your shoes - necessitating a skate key to tighten the clamps. Another favorite pastime ‏(besides making scrapbooks of movie star pictures)‏ was playing jacks. You had to bounce a ball and pick up the pieces ‏(jacks)‏ in numerical order - ones, then two's, etc. - and catch the ball after one bounce. A particular series of pick-up maneuvers was followed. I had a good table-height pillar to use after we moved to 7th Street."
"In Fairfield dad worked for a barn maker, Louden, who manufactured barn equipment. Later he switched back to roadwork at the Iowa State Highway Commission and eventually earned his surveying license by at-home study.
"We moved from our rented home to a purchased one on one acre and further from the city square. This was during my eighth grade where I had 23 classmates. We were still in grade school as there was no junior high or middle schools. I was picked to sing in a small group for an 'HMS Pinafore' song with choreography! This was performed on the high school stage!"
"That began my interest in small group singing. It helped that I had had 4 years of piano lessons, too. I was in Sophomore Sextet and the top group Madrigal after that. I made good grades, was in the National Honor Society and headed the music section in our yearbook 'The Quill'."
"I had made up my mind to be an elementary teacher and went to the local four year college. At Parsons I made new friends, pursued music ‏(choir, piano and pipe organ)‏ and accompanied singers. Each year we went on tour with our choir performing in towns, mostly in churches, in Iowa and nearby states. We stayed in the homes of the locals. In my four years of college I had only one elective course. All the others were required for a teaching certificate and the music major."
"I joined a local sorority ‏(and friends made there met for a reunion 50 years after I graduated. This was in Amana, Iowa, at a Bed and Breakfast.)‏"
"After graduating I took a teaching job in Ft. Madison ‏(60 miles from home)‏ and taught second grade ‏(36 students)‏ my first year at Richardson School. The following four years I taught elementary music to Kindergarten through sixth grade at both Richardson and Jefferson Schools."
"Early in my teaching career I met Tom Funkhouser, son of Richardson School third grade teacher, Joy Funkhouser. He had been in the Air Force and was going to school at the State University of Iowa. We dated some and after he graduated he worked overseas as a tech rep for Philco Corporation in Morocco, Germany, Libya and Turkey. We corresponded and eventually he proposed ‏(in a letter at Christmas)‏."
"We were married September 17, 1961, and left immediately for Tom's new assignment in England by way of the steamship Queen Elizabeth. We lived in a flat in Banbury seven months and made many trips to London. A friend and I drove to Stoke-0n-Trent to tour a pottery place making Spode china. They also made 'Toby Mugs' and I have one of Robin Hood. A trip to nearby Stratford-on-Avon gave us a look at Shakespeare territory and even one of his play performances. One excursion took us to a frosty ‏(brr)‏ look at Stonehenge."
"On my 37th birthday as Tom's assignment finished we left for a tour of the Continent in our 1960 Ford Fairlane. We sailed from the White Cliffs of Dover across the English Channel. We did a self-guided tour of the continent. We came back to the states and Tom's next assignment was in Florida. We stayed for 5 months in the summer heat ‏(after spending the winter in damp England)‏ at St. Petersburg where Tom went across Tampa Bay everyday to work at the Air Force Base."
"After our return to Fairfield, Iowa, Tom accepted a job at Louden Machinery Co. ‏(where dad had worked)‏. I gave private piano lessons and for 20 years was organist at Fairfield United Methodist Church. We had 3 children, Jonathan,1964, Alicia, 1966, and Joy, 1968. Each of them is now married and we have ten grandchildren. The oldest was married July 17, 2009, ‏(a date with record-breaking cold temperatures)‏."
"After Tom retired from Dexter ‏(manufacture of commercial washers)‏ we spent nine years in a rural subdivision and moved back to town when Tom developed Macular Degeneration and lost vision in his left eye. In 2007 we purchased the home that my parents had built in 1976. We are almost 'back to our roots'."

"Pat Patricia Ann ‏(Sheets)‏ Funkhouser was born April 13, 1935, to Floyd and Wanda ‏(Barker)‏ Sheets in Keosauqua. She graduated from Fairfield High School in 1952 and from Parsons College in 1956 with a BA in music. She taught music at Richardson Elementary School in Fort Madison, where she met her husband, Tom, whom she married September 17, 1961. They celebrated 56 years of marriage before he passed away in November of last year.

Pat loved music and was devoted to her family. It was important to her to be able to stay at home with her kids and still share her love for music. She did this by teaching piano lessons after school. Pat was a member of the First United Methodist Church where she was organist and accompanist for 20 years, and also a Bell Choir director. Pat was a member and past president of PEO and UMW, and belonged to the Ruth Circle. She was also a wonderful seamstress, making many clothes for her kids, grandkids, and their dolls.

Her Funeral Service was held 15 Dec 2018 at First United Methodist Church of Fairfield with her son-in-law Reverend John Louk officiating.

Source: Excerpts from Patricia's Obituary.