Barbara LeRoy Obituary

BARBARA MAY CAVERN LEROY
May 20, 1941 ˜ November 6, 2023

Our dear friend, Barbara May Cavern LeRoy, left us Nov. 6, 2023, to be with our Lord.
Barbara was born May 20, 1941, to Walter and Verna May Cavern, in Chicago, IL. When she and her brother, Donald, were young, the family moved to Edwardsburg, MI. In 1959, Barbara graduated from Edwardsburg High School and then continued on with her education in Maryville, TN, earning a degree in psychology and counseling.
Barbara traveled all over the globe with her career as a flight attendant. She was hired in 1963 by Western Airlines. She loved her work and not only served in the air, but she served on the ground by organizing the first employee assistance program for pilots and flight attendants for Western Airlines. Later in her career, in 1991, she graduated from the University of San Francisco with a master’s degree in psychology and offered counseling services to families that had been affected by airline-related tragedies. After retiring from Delta Airlines in 2002, Barbara worked for 11 years for the Church of the Good Shepherd in Vancouver, WA, where she continued to serve others as outreach ministry leader between community and church.
Barbara is survived by her brother, Donald; and many friends who will remember her as a generous, courageous, and loving person who had a keen sense of humor. She believed in enjoying life to its fullest, and did so by enjoying counted cross-stitch, a good book, good food, a good glass of wine, and good friends. Barbara loved to laugh and make others laugh. She was cracking jokes with her friends and caretakers all the way to the end. Her wit and laugh will be remembered and missed.
For years, Barbara lived well, putting one foot in front of the other and working hard to keep moving, as she battled Parkinson’s Disease. She was determined not to let the disease stop her, and she never did. In 2014, she traveled to Costa Rica with Courts for Kids to build a sports court for a small community. The villagers there were in awe at seeing this small, gray-haired woman carrying buckets of gravel back and forth all week to do her part in building the court.
We are thankful for Father Tom Warne and Reverend Grethe Barber for their loving spiritual visits to Barbara, and to the nurses, doctors, and caretakers who also cared for her.
We invite you to join us in a celebrating Barbara’s life at the Church of the Good Shepherd, 805 SE Ellsworth Rd., Vancouver, WA, Feb. 10, 2024 at 2 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, please donate in Barbara’s memory to the Parkinson’s Resources of Oregon at 8800 SW Nimbus Ave., Ste. B, Beaverton, OR 97008. www.parkinsonsresources.org.
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