Barbara Jeanne Struthers

Sept. 11, 1921 - March 2, 2018

Barbara Jeanne Struthers, 96, of Heppner, Ore., died March 2, 2018, in Pendleton, Ore. Recitation of the Rosary will be held Friday, March 9 at 7 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Heppner. A funeral mass will be held Saturday, March 10 at 11 a.m. at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, with a luncheon to follow at the church parish hall. Barbara’s ashes will be interred Saturday, March 10 at 3 p.m. in St. Joseph’s Catholic Cemetery in Condon, Ore.

Barbara was born September 11, 1921, on a farm near Weston, Wyoming, to Charles and Hazel (Hartz) Reilly. She was the oldest of six children, growing up in Wyoming, Idaho and Eastern Oregon. She married Ralph Struthers on June 10, 1939, in Payette, Idaho, and graduated from Vale High School in 1940. Two children were born from this union: Evelyn in 1940 and Edwin in 1944.

Barbara and Ralph lived in Hereford, Ore., until 1951 when they moved to Condon. In 1965 they moved to southeast Oregon, living in Crane, Frenchglen and Juntura until Ralph’s retirement in 1976. They moved to Heppner in 1985 to be closer to their son Ed, and were the first residents of the newly renovated St. Patrick’s Senior Hotel in Heppner in 1989.

Ralph died in 2001, and Barbara remained in the senior hotel until 2012, when she moved to Willow Creek Terrace assisted living facility in Heppner.

Barbara was a homemaker her entire life, and enjoyed gardening, painting, knitting and sewing. She volunteered extensively in the community, including Camp Fire, OSU Extension Service and 4-H, the Heppner Neighborhood Center and the altar society of the Catholic Church. She was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Community Service in 1998 by the Heppner Chamber of Commerce.

Barbara is survived by her son Ed (Marie) Struthers of Pendleton; brother Clayton (Lucy) Reilly of Kuna, Idaho; seven grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; and 14 great- great- grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 62 years, Ralph Struthers; daughter Evelyn McKinney; sisters Jackie Gallagher and Margaret Linder; and brothers Edwin and Robert Reilly.