Clara Barrett

Clara (Beth) Schnellbacher Barrett lived to see a century of progress in Thomas County Kansas. She was born June 25, 1918 in Thomas County to Claude and Augusta (Peters) Schnellbacher and died March 17, 2019 in Colby, Kansas.

Clara’s mother died in October 1920 when Clara was two years old leaving her and seven-year-old sister Helen motherless. Both girls were given loving care by their Peters grandparents, Aunt Rosa Peters and Uncle John Holm. Both the Peters and Schnellbacher-Ullrich grandparents came from Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. This early environment had a profound influence on Clara.

Clara graduated from Colby Community High School in 1936. Her first year of college was spent at University of California at Berkley. She had two aunts who lived in California and she was to help care for a young son of one of the aunts. This was a huge change for a young Kansas farm girl and Clara found the city and being away from home very difficult. She was homesick for her family in Kansas.

She returned to Kansas and attended Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science in Manhattan majoring in Home Economics. It was there she met Melvin Lester Barrett. Lester liked to call Clara, Beth.

Lester graduated from college in 1940. He taught music at Brewster for one year while Clara continued her education in Manhattan. She was a semester short of graduating when she returned to Northwest Kansas. Clara and Lester were married in a garden wedding on June 4, 1941 at the Peters farm home in Southwest Thomas County. That summer, they went to Iowa City, Iowa where Lester attended graduate school at University of Iowa. They then moved to Atwood where Lester taught music at Atwood High School for one year. They moved to Norton for a teaching position there, however in July 1942 Lester was drafted into the Army.

When possible, Clara followed Lester through his military training until he was sent to Belgium and France from July 1944 to Dec of 1945. After Lester was discharged from the Army, Clara and Lester moved back to Thomas County and became associated with Claude Schnellbacher and Albert Frahm in farming operations Southwest of Colby. Clara focused her life on her family.

In the early years, Clara enjoyed the camaraderie of the Homemaker Units. Women would gather at each other’s homes and enjoyed fellowship and educational lessons. Later, Clara valued her friendships with the other women in her Shakespeare Club, a Federated Women’s Group.

Clara and her family were proud of her accomplishment of completing her bachelor’s degree some forty years after her initial college education. This was before the Internet and distance education had become popular. On May 16, 1981, Clara graduated from Kansas State University with a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics. She was the first, off campus re-entry student to graduate in the history of Colby Community College or Kansas State University.

Preceding her in death were her parents, Claude and Augusta Schnellbacher; her husband Lester, who died in 2001; her sister Helen Frahm and a grandson-in-law Scott Anderson.

She is survived by her daughters, Bev (Al) Jensen, of Plymouth, MN, Nancy (Lynn) Walker, Wichita, KS, Jeanene (Mike) Brown, Colby, and Sherry (Larry Helus) Barrett, Colby; eight grandchildren, Jenny (Chris) Stokes, St. Bonifacius, MN, Mandy (Jason) Hansen, Boise, ID, Kate (Jason) Cavanaugh, Corcoran, MN, Aaron (Jenni) Walker, Wichita, KS, Emily (Jason) Cowden, Shawnee, KS, Chanda (Cody) Hooten, Arkadelphia, AR, Cassie Anderson, Riley, KS and Tanner (Carla) Brown, Colby, KS; as well as 18 great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.

At Clara’s request, her body was cremated. A memorial service, led by Pastor Patrick Broz will be held at 2:00 pm, Saturday, April 20, 2019 at the Colby United Methodist Church with burial of her ashes following at Beulah Cemetery. Memorials are suggested to the Thomas County Historical Society or the Colby United Methodist Church, in care of Baalmann Mortuary, PO Box 391, Colby, KS 67701. For information or condolences visit www.baalmannmortuary.com.