Barbara Catherine Hoke Stanfill

Barbara Stanfill passed away peacefully on a beautiful Sunday morning with her children by her side. She spent her final days, just as she had lived her life, singing hymns and praising God.

Barbara grew up on her parents’ dairy farm in New Carlisle, Ohio, as the youngest of six children. Some of her earliest memories were of “reading” letters her brother sent home during World War II. She spent her formative years working on the farm and many hours singing while she was on the tractor. She had no idea how far her voice carried until she returned from college and her neighbors from the surrounding farms remarked on how much they missed hearing her sing. Those years on the tractor developed her beautiful soprano voice into a powerful instrument of praise to God.

She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Bible from Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana, where she often traveled with choir teams, spreading God’s love through song. While she was in college, her parents sold the beloved farm, and it became the Sugar Isle Golf Course. 

Barbara was a faithful member of the New Carlisle Missionary Church where she regularly taught Sunday School, Children’s Church, and Vacation Bible School. She was a member of the choir and frequently sang special solos during church and worship services. She was never happier than when she was dedicating her soaring soprano to God. In her later years, she enjoyed being able to walk out the back gate of her house and worship at the New Carlisle Church of the Nazarene and made many wonderful friends there. 

She carried her faith with her as she lived a life of service to others. From her time working for Aid for the Aged in Dayton to her many years spent as a special education tutor for New Carlisle-Bethel (now Tecumseh) Local School District, she always put others first. Many of her tutoring years were spent at Westlake Elementary School where she made lifelong friends, touched numerous lives, and acted as the unofficial school photographer.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Arvid Stanfill, of Elk Valley, Tennessee. She is survived by her two children, Bruce Stanfill and his wife, Marga, of San Antonio, Texas, and Susan Brubaker and her husband, Kurt, of Alexandria, Virginia, as well as seven grandchildren, one great-granddaughter and two great-grandsons.

In lieu of flowers, please donate your money, time or talents to your local hospice organization, or to Christus Hospice VNA of San Antonio ( https://friendsofhospicesa.org/site/giving/memorial-gift/ ) who cared for her in her final days, or to Hospice of Miami County, Ohio ( https://www.mvhfoundation.org/donate-now/ ) who cared for her husband. The nurses and staff from these organizations provided boundless love and care to our parents and to our family and were truly a godsend making difficult times much easier to bear.