Desert Messenger

18 www.DesertMessenger.com December 4, 2019 Barbara Burnett's 90th Birthday celebration held By Jackie Deal If ninety always looked this good, we'd all want to be ninety tomorrow. She's tiny, trim, alert and alive, en- ergetic, bubbling with life, even the wrinkles of old-age haven't found her yet. She wears ninety well. Her memory for dates, times, places is fantastic. She plays the fiddle for two or three jams a week and glee- fully dances at others. The phrase "ninety years young" must have been coined for her. Barbara Burnett's 90th birthday be- gan with a fire engine ride around the Gold Star RV Resort. It was said that this was as close to a limousine as one could get in Quartzsite. Barbara celebrated that evening with a large joyous gathering at the Gold Star RV Resort. The evening started with an excellent band put together for the occasion: Cookie Stanton, John Gib- son, Judy Bagley, Dave Adams, and Ross Kibel. Five of her six daughters, all dressed in pink jackets, sang in tribute to their Mother. One songs that the girls had written, "Momma's Hands," moved many to tears. Barbara and Darwin were married December 23, 1951. Darwin passed away November 28, 2018. Barbara graduated from Montana State Col- lege in 1952 with a degree in Agri- culture; she'd planned to be a 4-H Leader. But marriage changed that and instead she became the guiding light and inspiration for her fam- ily which includes 9 children, 45 grandchildren, and 50 great grand- children -with 2 more on the way. Odds are, Barbara could name every one and possibly their birthdays. She raised her family mostly in Montana in almost pioneer condi- tions. They built their home, raised their food, always had animals, fished and hunted. And she canned prodigious amount of everything that fit in a jar. At age 55 she got her teaching de- gree and taught in Fairbanks, Alas- ka. She and her family made 12 trips to Alaska. She always loved learn- ing and at age 58 she took Spanish lessons. She took tap dancing les- sons in her 50s and the daughters remember her "dancing around the kitchen." At one point she was cooking for a college Fraternity house and her baking was so successful she decided to open her own bakery. She special- ized in healthy whole wheat goods and her cinnamon rolls were popu- lar. She says, "Anything that didn't sell, we'd eat at home." She did this for four years with the family's help. She was happy to have her son and his wife take over the bakery, say- ing, "Then I could bake just 4 hours a day. I felt like I was retired." Music was a most important part of her family life. All of her children sing and play instruments. They had a family band and played for churches, weddings etc. She often told the children, "Why waste time listening to the radio? If you prac- ticed you could BE on the radio." It seemed her goal was to be the sec- ond Von Trapp family. She even made all of them green paisley shirts like the ones made from curtains in the movie "Sound of Music." She insists the matching shirts were just to help keep track of everyone in a crowd. On several occasions the entire family held a reunion and put on a terrific musical evening at Gold Star where Barbara lives. The profes- sional quality of their performances makes a delightful evening. If in the future they all (or most of them) re- turn, watch for the dates and don't miss them: the second Von Trapps, better known as "The Burnetts." PHOTO: from left to right, back row: Heidi Obray, Marta Rigby, Rhyll Croshaw, Dawn Frandsen. Front row Del Raye Searle and Barbara Burnett. Quartzsite Art Guild updates Quartzsite Art Guild welcomes everyone to attend our meetings. Winter Season Agenda Dec. 5: Mary Huntley will share the art of Silver point. Dec.19: Christmas party with finger foods and a gift exchange of something useful. Jan. 2: The artists will help each other finish up any projects before the Art Show planned in January. January 10 & 11, 2020: Art show from 9a.m. - 3p.m. Friday and 9-2:30 p.m. Saturday. Raffle prizes and Door prizes with Fabu- lous Art pieces for sale. Quartzsite Art Guild is located at the Senior Center 40 Moon Moun- tain Ave. Quartzsite. Meetings start at 6 p.m. every first and third Thursday of the month. $5.00 membership to join plus $5 to the Senior Center, total of $10. For more information, call Oney Budge 208-317-2315. DEADLINE : WED. DEC. 11 TH for the Dec. 18 TH edition Desert Messenger News Email: editor@DesertMessenger.com 928-916-4235 www.DesertMessenger.com

• Cover