Jean Ruth (McMahan) Barnard

May 19, 1928 – August 28, 2022

Jean Ruth (McMahan) Barnard, 94, residence of Clarkston, Michigan, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Sunday afternoon, August 28th, 2022. Jean was born on May 19, 1928, in Cleveland, Ohio, to John Cecil and Nellie Ruth (Gilliland) McMahan, their only child. She grew up in Parma and went to Parma High School where she met and married her high-school sweetheart, Robert (Bob) Dane Barnard, on July 23, 1949. She worked for Ohio Bell Telephone before and during the first few years of their marriage and while Bob was in the Navy. These early years took Jean and Bob to Brooklyn, NYC, then back to Parma, Ohio, while Bob was in college. During the time Bob was studying and teaching Electrical Engineering, Jean was busy raising their four children, three daughters and one son. Once Bob received his Ph.D., the family pulled up roots and moved to New Providence, NJ, where Bob was a research engineer at Bell Laboratories. They moved to Dearborn Heights, MI, in 1961 when Bob became a professor at Wayne State University, then back to Berkeley Heights, NJ, a year later so that Bob could do more research. After three years of overseeing dance lessons, piano lessons, flute lessons, cub scouts, brownies, and being a cub scout den mother, etc., it was back to West Bloomfield, MI, where Bob was once again a professor at WSU. Jean became an expert at selling, buying, packing-up, unpacking, and making new houses into actual homes. Once settled back in Michigan she did find time to take up several hobbies and other community activities. She collected Victorian and early American antiques and also collected and sold old coins. Once the children were on their own, Jean and Bob moved to the Lake Orion/Rochester Hills, MI, area where they lived for many years. Jean was an avid reader, enjoyed writing, and was a guest editorialist for the Lake Orion Review and the Detroit Free Press. She had a wonderfully quirky sense of humor and entertained her children and friends with jokes and slightly bawdy songs (that she claimed her mother taught her). She couldn't carry a tune at all. She loved dancing to Big band songs and actually taught classes at Arthur Murray Dance Studios when she was younger. She had record albums that covered the gamut – classical, comedy, musicals, folk music, Big band, ballads, you name it. She was a passionate animal lover and contributed to many worthy wildlife and animal rescue organizations over the years. She always had a doggie or two to keep her company and they were a great comfort to her when her health began to fail. One only had to see that the number of pet portraits in her home outnumbered those of her kids to know how much they meant to her. Unfortunately, she had multiple health issues as she grew older that diminished her quality of life and therefore was not able to enjoy the many of the things she wanted to, including her pets. Her worsening deafness was a hardship with which she struggled through her later years.

Jean is survived by her loving children, Christine Ruth Shlagor (Peter Allen Shlagor), of New Era, MI, Laura Kathleen Neilson (James Russell Neilson), of Clarkston, MI, Timothy John Barnard (Yuan Ying Tao Barnard), of Rochester Hills, MI, and Janet Eileen Townley (Larry Wayne Townley), of Charlotte, N.C. She is also survived by seven wonderful grandchildren (Sean Robert Carlson, Jeremy Martin Andres, Jessica Jean Ferris, Katurah Leerie Peters, Breanna Juleen King, Chelsea Anne Marie Buzzitta, Celeste Yilin Barnard), and eight amazing great-

grandchildren (Mekyah Kay Eileen Peters, Kayden David Peters, Brennan Gerald Andres, Lydia Juleen Cheek, Bryce Robert Andres, Miles Dane King, Jackson Thomas Ferris, and Maya Jade Ferris). She is predeceased by her husband, Robert Dane Barnard, and all her adoring pets - Skippy, Snoopy, Samantha, Buttons, Molly, Cindi, Danny, and Suzie.

Jean requested there be no funeral services and that she be cremated. Coats Funeral Home, 3141 Sashabaw Rd., Waterford Twp., MI, 48329, is handling those arrangements. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to a charity of one's own choosing or to either the Hearing Loss Association of America or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Jean's Favorite Poem:

Four Feet

I have done mostly what most men do,

And pushed it out of my mind;

But I can't forget if I wanted to,

Four-Feet trotting behind.

Day after day, the whole day through –

Wherever my road inclined –

Four-Feet said, 'I am coming with you!'

And trotted along behind.

Now I must go by some other round,-

Which I shall never find-

Somewhere that does not carry the sound

Of Four-Feet trotting behind.

Rudyard Kipling