Barbara Bean

Barbara Lee (Dunn) Bean was born Mar. 29, 1926, to Hiram and Maude (Moffett) Dunn in Bloomington, Nebraska. She departed this life Sept. 10, 2020, at York General Hearthstone, York, Nebraska. As a young girl, Barbara moved with her family to Inavale, Nebraska, where her mother was the postmaster and her father managed their farming business. She graduated from Inavale High School and married Wallace E. Bean on February 7th, 1944.

        Barb was involved in an array of community activities such as the Pleasant Prairie Project Club and at the Inavale Church of Christ and later at the Red Cloud Congregational Church.  In 1984, Betty Richardson, Bid McCall, Jeanne Strickland, Jan Weber, and she raised funds to put up the monument honoring Webster County war veterans next to the Inavale gymnasium.

        Anyone who knew Barb more than likely received a card or letter from her. One of her children jokingly said that she almost single-handedly kept the Inavale Post Office open from her sending of cards, letters, packages, and copies of newspapers. She was an active proponent in writing several Nebraska governors and senators advocating for the little town's surviving post office on Main Street of Inavale. Because of her mother, Barb took a personal delight and care in writing letters of recommendations for local postal clerks and rural mail carriers sent on behalf of Wally and herself. And she would report with pride that all of them were granted positions. Children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren will remember fondly her cards with sticks of gum placed in them as well as other items of surprise. (All, of course, requiring extra postage to mail.)

        Along with serving on the election board committee for 11 years, Barb served on the Webster County COE for 13 years as well as the RC&D. Barb and Wally attended the Franklin Evangelical Free Church until they moved to Hastings, Nebraska, in September of 2008. And although she had moved from Webster County, her heart was never far away from the land.

        Left to survive her are her children and their spouses: Constance Pieper of Friend, Nebraska; Stan and Pam (Cane) Bean of Sunbury, Ohio; Marla and Tim Teegerstrom of Stromsburg, Nebraska; and Bill and Elaine (Nichols) Bean of Lindsborg, Kansas; as well as grandchildren and their spouses Raina (Pieper) and James Volkmer of Lincoln, Nebraska;  Tyler and Jenni (Andresen) Pieper of Elkhorn, Nebraska;  Amy (Bean) and Mike Pelphrey of Berthoud, Colorado;  Adam and Risa (Parker) Bean of Fredericktown, Ohio; Nolan and Shelly (Dalton) Bean of Dayton, Kentucky; Sarah (Teegerstrom) and Eric Theis of Stromsburg, Nebraska; Will and Kim (Hassebrook) Teegerstrom of Lincoln, Nebraska; Charlene Ferguson of Lindsborg, Kansas; Jolene (Ferguson) and Chad Bryan of Abilene, Kansas; twenty-two great grandchildren as well as nieces, nephews, other relatives, and friends.

        Barb was preceded in death by her husband Wallace in 2010; parents Hiram and Maude (Moffett) Dunn; infant sister Ellen; brothers and sisters-in-law Edward and Phyllis (Fuller), Gene and Eunice (Rydquist), and Charles Dunn; son-in-law Don Pieper; and great granddaughters Greer Volkmer and Jaden Ferguson as well as cherished nieces, nephews, other relatives, and friends.

        The family is respectfully requesting no plants or flowers. All memorial donations will be distributed to charities in Barb’s memory.

        Services were Saturday, 2:00 pm, September 19, 2020 at the Williams Funeral Home in Red Cloud with Pastor Ted Pearson officiating. Interment was at the Red Cloud Cemetery.

DUE TO THE CURRENT PANDEMIC ALL GUESTS ARE ASKED TO WEAR A FACE MASK AND PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING.
Williams Funeral Home
241 West 4th Avenue
Red Cloud, Nebraska  68970

Phone 402-746-2500
williamsfuneralhomes@yahoo.com

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