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In Memory

Barbara Corah (Carr)

Barbara Corah (Carr)

Salt Lake City, UT - Barbara has spent the last 15 years progressing through the stages of early onset Alzheimer's. This has been a battle with no victory, a war with no winner. She passed away the evening of Winter Solstice, December 21, 2022.

We find comfort in knowing she is at peace in the loving arms of Leah Jorgensen, her grandmother; Maxine Corah, her mother; and Marilyn Isgreen, her older sister. Her two remaining sisters are Yvonne Carver (Bill Carver) and Gayle Weyher. We were four-the Corah girls-but now are two, left with sister-size holes in our hearts. Life will go on, but with a huge void now that our older sisters are gone forever. We're left with vivid memories but ending much too soon; Barbara 74 and Marilyn 72 (2019).

You may have known Barbara from attending Uintah Elementary School or Clayton Junior High or as a Pep Club member cheering on the East High School Leopards (class of 1966). She graduated from the University of Utah with a Spanish major and certificates in early childhood, elementary, and secondary education (1972). Barbara returned to the U of U in 1976 to complete her master's degree in Education.

Barbara's teenage years were some of her happiest. She was a member of the Red Sweatshirt Gang in the 15th and Harrison Avenue area. It was a tight knit neighborhood with parties, romances, pranks, and local bands practicing in neighborhood garages rehearsing songs from The Beach Boys and Beatles. It was also a period of unrest with the Vietnam War, and assassinations of the Kennedy brothers, Martin Luther King, and Medgar Evers. People built bomb shelters in their back yards; they practiced duck-for-cover drills in school.

If you knew Barbara, then you were familiar with her love of clothes and shoes. As a teenager, she worked hard and saved money to buy shoes at The Chalk Garden and clothes at Adrian and Emilie's or Makoff's. Teaching kindergarten and first grade, she was the only one wearing three-piece suits.

If you knew Barbara, all 5 foot 2 and 3/4 inches, she probably challenged you to an arm wrestle and won. In high school and college, she worked part-time at Dunford Bakery's ninth and ninth location. Not retail sales but the bakery itself. She dumped cakes and loaves of bread from oven-hot 4x4 trays and placed the goods in baker's trolleys. She was powerful!

If you knew Barbara, you would have seen the sign in her kitchen that read, "I only have a kitchen because it came with the house." She never did like to cook. We'd sometimes joke that if any of us did prepare a family dinner at her home, we needed to check the oven before turning it on. She may have shoes stored there.

If you knew Barbara, then you know she was passionate about traveling with the goal of "getting a real feeling for the people". She visited more than 65 countries and participated in more than six projects with Choice Humanitarian co-founders Tim Evans and James Mayfield. Her love affair with travel began in college during the summer of 1969. Life-long friends, Jolene Edmunds (Rockwood) and Sissel Hadel (Hawkes) spent three months traveling around Europe in their rental car. At the end of the summer, Jolene returned to Salt Lake while Sissel and Barbara headed to Israel and worked on kibbutz Beit Alpha before returning in December.

You may have known Barbara as an ESL teacher and mentor. She taught for 34 years, starting at Guadalupe Learning Center in 1972, then Salt Lake School District until she retired in 2006. She taught bilingual kindergarten and first grade; in her final years she was a mentor assisting student teachers at North Star Elementary.

If you knew Barbara, then you know how much she loved to twirl her hair, and if you were sitting close enough, she'd ask if she could twirl yours too. We'd laugh and tease her about the quirky habit. Years later, we saw it for what it was-a manifestation of the anxiety disorder she dealt with her entire life. Self-deprecating humor camouflaged some of her anxiety dragons but never slayed them. Those dragons contributed to her early onset Alzheimer's.

Barbara leaves behind niece Mercedes Weyher Schabdach (Matthew) and their children Evelyn and Asher; nephew Douglas Weyher and his "Littles" Elliot and Allister. She leaves behind a lifetime of loving friends. She kept in touch with childhood friends by arranging reunions with the old neighborhood. She took annual trips with childhood friends Jolene, Sissel, and Kathy to sunny Mexico. It was Barb who stayed in touch with teaching friends meeting monthly for dinner and drinks, making sure the next month's date was set before leaving. She made enduring friendships while working and traveling with Project Choice.

So many have helped Barbara through this stage in her life. In 2016, she moved to Highland Cove Retirement Community. In 2019, she moved to memory care at Legacy of Sugarhouse where long time employees Jennifer, Kameryn, Saige and many others lovingly cared for her every day. Thank you to Mary, Megan, and Natashia from First Choice Hospice for their tender, knowledgeable care and emotional support. Thank you to Dr. Timothy Farrell and Perrine Anderson for medical assistance.

Barbara is resting near her mother and sister at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park. Her family will be having a private graveside gathering later when the warmth of the sun will help to mend their broken hearts. Please consider a donation in Barbara's name to Choice Humanitarian 7879 South 1530 West #200 West Jordan, UT 84088, 801-474-1937, choicehumanitarian.org.

 

 
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12/24/22 10:08 PM #1    

Kathy Schoenhals (Feigal)

I've known Barbara since Uintah Elementary School. We were Cheerleaders for a Kiwanis Club-sponsored Football team - "Go back, go back, go back to the woods.  You ain't, you ain't, you ain't got the goods. You may have the rythym and you may have the jazz, but you don't have the team the Kiwanis has!" In high school, because we were both 5'2", we lead the lines out onto the field in Pep Club. In college, we spent a summer working in Hawaii with Jolene Edmunds.

Later, with Sissel Hadel, the four of us spent time every summer travelling (mostly to Mexico). We had such fun talking and laughing and bouncing around in the ocean.

Barbara was the organizer of a great deal of my social life. We walked every Sunday with a couple of friends around Liberty or Sugarhouse Parks. She was always offering to help with anything that needed to be done around my house; weeding the garden, decorating for Christmas and planning the meal. Neither of us liked to cook so we would copy what the other was doing. Barbara loved riding my 1965 one-gear bike on the Jordan River Parkway.

We had such fun together, but we shared a lot of serious moments too, seeing each other through the trauma of relationship break-ups.

I will miss her generous smile and ready laugh. I'll think of her often, especially at Christmastime from now on.


12/25/22 01:25 PM #2    

Don Bleak

I am so sorry to read this about Barbara. I also knew her from Uintah, Clayton, East, and the U of U. I always thought she was so cute. That smile would light up a room. She was one of the girls I would admire from afar. It makes me so frustrated to see such wonderful people pass. I don't want to see any more of you passing away. There's plenty of time to see friends and family.....in the future. Rest In Peace for now, Barb. And get ready for me to be so angry with you for passing so early. 


12/27/22 10:30 PM #3    

Karen Hough (Park)

 

I was so sad to learn of Barbara's passing. What an accomplished life she lead. It's heartbreaking to learn of her long struggle with Alzheimer's. I grew up within the boundaries of the "Neighborhood ". I ssociated a lot with Barbara and her family. Barbara's sister Marilyn was in my Girl Scout Troop. Her sister Yvonne was the same age as my little sister. Their sweet Mom often came into the Credit Union in Orem where I used to work. She always made a point of coming over to my desk- updating me on how Barbara was doing .

Things look the same,
But completely reframed.

We're feeling somehow,
An emptiness now.

She did exist-
She shall be missed !

Prayers and Blessings for Her Family and Good Friends. 🦋❣️

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


01/28/23 01:21 PM #4    

Gerald (Jerry) Bringhurst

It is always shocking to hear of someone passing.  Barbra ment so much to me.  When I think of her I immediately think of the "Neighborhood."  Those summer night when we would all get together, walking the streets and alleys where we all lived, going to Fernwood's, going to parties, oh, the parties, and the neighborhood romances.  But most of all I remember that big smile that Barbra always had. Memories are great. Barbra was great!  Miss you!!! 


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