Katheryn Fey Thompson Barker Obituary (1924

Katheryn Fey Thompson Barker passed away peacefully in her home on Saturday, January 28, 2023, at the age of 98. She was born on April 16, 1924 to Leander Theodore Thompson and Ida Eliza Merz, sixth of eight children. When 9 months old, she became gravely ill with pneumonia and was saved by being wrapped in sliced onions so the vapors would open her airways. She attended schools in Bountiful, Utah, riding the Bamberger Railroad to high school and was co-editor of the yearbook her senior year. After graduating from high school, amid World War II, she took a typing test and landed a job at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City. There she earned money to pay for studying at the Dr. W. H. Groves School of Nursing at the Latter-day Saints Hospital where she enrolled in January 1943. She graduated three years later and began her career as a Head Nurse at the LDS hospital. Kay married Dee Heaton Barker on April 24,1945, a week before he was deployed on a Navy destroyer escort in the Pacific. He was discharged from the Navy in December of 1945 and they made their home in Salt Lake City where she worked as a nurse while Dee attended university. They moved to her parents’ home in Bountiful in 1950 while she cared for her ailing mother and for her father, while Dee finished his schooling. They moved to Delaware for employment in 1951 and then to South Carolina in 1954. In 1959 they moved to Provo to work for Brigham Young University. While working at BYU they enjoyed many of the benefits of working at this university. They also enjoyed sabbatical leaves to India and South Korea and traveled the world going to and from these assignments. Kay loved bringing her family together. She planned family reunions every few years beginning at Snowbird in 1986 and ending at Snowbird 24 years later. Katheryn has instructed us adamantly that her hands are to be covered for her viewing. We wish to share a few of the many things those hands have done. Her hands nursed mothers and babies to provide for her own young family - while typing her husband’s dissertation at night. They raised her own children and tended to her grandchildren and great grandchildren. They have warmed in India’s summers and chilled in Korea’s winters, and greeted and served neighbors at home and around the world. So, if you come to say one last goodbye to her, you will see her hands decorously covered, but please know we are proud of every wrinkle, spot and vein and for those lovely hands. She is survived by her children DeeAnne Higley, Lynn Barker, Craig (Maurine) Barker, Gary (Susan) Barker, Pamela (John) Harvey. Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren: Kevin Higley; Michael (Kelli) Higley and their children Eleanor, Abby, Sam; Melissa Higley. Cassie (Barker) Ayers and her children Regan and Kane; Douglas Barker; Amanda Barker. Nathan Barker; Angela (Barker)/Peter Datin and their children Joshua, Emily, Jessica, Nicholas, Charlotte, Jackson; Heather (Barker)/Travis Boxley and their children Kaitlyn, Abigail, Wyatt, Sami; Robyn (Barker)/Al Hernandez and their children Isaac, Isabelle. David (Robyn) Barker and their children William, Thomas, Henry, Jack, Samuel, George; Teresa (Barker)/Bryan Hales and their children Hannah, Jacob, Emily, Lauren, Sarah; Cindy (Barker)/Brent Perkins and their children Brooke, Kylie, Ty, Paige; James (Rachel) Barker and their children Abigail, Juliet; John Barker and his daughter Kymberlee. She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, her siblings and a son-in-law, Ken Higley. The family is grateful to our mother’s caregivers for the excellent, kind and gentle care they have given our mother during the last few years of her life. Funeral services will be held at 12:00 noon, Saturday, February 4, 2023 at the Oak Hills Stake Center, 925 East North Temple Drive, Provo, Utah. The family will receive friends from 10:30-11:45 a.m. prior to services. Interment, Provo City Cemetery. Condolences may be expressed at www.bergmortuary.com. The service may be viewed LIVE at the following link: bit.ly/kaybarkerfuneral