Thelma Annette Barr

Thelma Annette (Leonard) Barr died in the early morning hours of May 15, 2024 at the Ignite Retirement Resort in Blue Springs, MO. A graveside service will be held August 3 at the Osage Cemetery, 852 South 87th Street, McCune, KS at 11:00 am. A lunch will be served following the service at the Osage Church, 794 West 540th Avenue, McCune, KS. Memorials can go to either the Osage Memorial Park or to Ascend Hospice, 783 NE. Anderson Lane, Lee’s Summit, MO. who provided excellent care for Thelma with love and compassion during her final days. Cremation was handled by Heartland Cremation & Burial Society.

Thelma was born December 18, 1929 in Bristol, TN. to Airy Newell Leonard and Burnice B. (Millsap) Leonard. Both have proceeded Thelma in death.

She came from a large family of nine children, five have proceeded her in death. Audery Luster Leonard (Hilmar, CA.), Martha Jane (Janie) Hiller (McCune, KS.), Margaret Mae (Brownie) Hartman (Rose Hill and Uniontown, KS.), Amos James Leonard (Girard, KS.), Winfred Lucille Romig (Lee’s Summit, MO.) There are two surviving brothers, David Newell Leonard (Oak Grove, MO.), Rufus Airy Leonard (Bloomfield, NM.), and one surviving sister, Evalee Winburn (Weston, MO.)

The Leonard family moved from Tennessee to Indiana in 1936 where Thelma met and married Kenneth Leon Barr February 8, 1950. They moved from Indiana to Kansas City, MO. in 1956. They had three children, Darrell Allen Barr (Carolyn Huff Barr) rural Girard, KS., Janette Elaine (Barr)[Jerry] Bollinger, Blue Springs, MO., and Kenneth Eugene Barr (Belinda McPheeters Barr, deceased) Oyster Creek, TX. Thelma and Kenneth had five grandchildren, Margaret Annette “Ann” Lee (Jason) Pittsburg, KS., Darrell Wayne Barr (Karen) Webb City, MO., Christopher Michael Bollinger (Heather), Parkville, MO., Jennifer Maria Coffman (Steve), Springfield, MO., and Erica Lorraine Barr, Lee’s Summit, MO. There are eight great grandchildren, Adam and Kelsey Lee, Aleczander and Isabelle Coffman, Reagan and Jacob Bollinger, and Ruby and Elijah Barr.

Thelma loved kids. She spent her working career teaching them. She taught in three different states, Indiana, Kansas, and Missouri. To prepare for this vocation Thelma attended Sullins Women’s College in Bristol, Virginia, Perdue University in Indiana and Pittsburg State Teachers College, Pittsburg, KS., where she received her elementary school teaching credentials. She later attended the University of Missouri in Warrensburg, MO. where she received a Master’s degree in Education. She received special recognition from the Hickman Mill’s school system in Kansas City, MO. where she retired in 1994.

Thelma and Kenneth were active in the Lee’s Summit United Methodist Church from 1962 until health issues made it too difficult for them to attend.

They and their children loved to travel, camp, water, and snow ski together. Once the children grew up and they had grandchildren, Kenneth and Thelma started taking them traveling for a two-week vacation to see America and get to know one another. Kenneth and Thelma traveled to all fifty states in our country as well as Canada, Mexico, and several countries in Europe. They loved to spend the winter in South Padre Island, TX.