Obituary of Donna Darlyne Barker

Donna Darlyne Barker was born Donna Darlyne Simerly to Ross and Lila Simerly in Jerome Idaho on June 23, 1934.  As it turned out, she shared the same birthday as her father, Ross.

When farming could not sustain his family during the Great Depression, her father, Ross, learned the tire recapping trade and moved the family to Rock Springs Wyoming, where he started an OK tire franchise.  During her time at Rock Springs, Donna fondly remembered her spirited horse Zipper and a motorcycle trip from Rock Springs to Parma Idaho to attend a church convention where she rode on the motorcycle with her dad and her mother and baby sister Maxine rode in the side car.

At age 12, after the end of World War II, her father moved the family to Twin Falls Idaho, then on to Meridian Idaho to open his own tire recapping business and practice the radiator repair trade.  It was there that Donna made her choice to serve God and received her first Bible which she still had at the time of her death.

Donna graduated from Meridian High School in 1954.  She later learned the typing skill and worked for a finance company as a data entry clerk.

She met Norman Ray Barker through a mutual friend, and they fell in love and were married on Dec 27, 1957.  After marriage, they moved to Seattle Washington where she helped put her husband, Norm, though engineering school at the University of Washington.

After Norm’s graduation, his career at General Electric caused them to move around from job to job.   They moved East and lived in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, at one time Donna said that they had 22 addresses in 20 years.  In Roanoke Virginia, Feb 1962, she gave birth to their first son, Dan.  Their second son, Ken, was born in Oct 1963, in Redwood City California.  They bought their first house in San Jose, in 1968.  It was there she learned piano and learned to play accordion.

Donna’s family continued to live in the bay area for several years until her husband Norm’s work moved the family East again to Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Nebraska during the early 1970s.  At all these locations, Donna, being community minded, volunteered as a Cub Scout Den Leader for the Boy Scouts of America.

The Family settled in San Jose California in 1974 where they bought their second house in 1975 where they raised their two sons.  It was at this home where they had the privilege to host the Union Sunday church fellowship meeting on the first Sunday day of each month.

When Norm retired, they bought some land in Volcano California in the Sierra Nevada foothills and built a lovely home there.  Donna, who loved to sew and crochet, made all the window dressings for the home.

They later moved to Nampa Idaho, and there her beloved husband Norm passed away in 2017.

Donna relocated to San Jose California and into the care of David and Susan Wong at their home during the last of her years.  She will be remembered for her loving, caring, personality.

Donna Barker passed away on July 29, 2023.  She is preceded in death by her parents, Ross and Lila Simerly; husband, Norm Barker, and is survived by her sister, Maxine Monroe; sons: Dan and Ken Barker, and her grandchildren, Michelle Davis and Alyssa Campbell.