Barbara A Stokel

Jensen Beach, FL. Barbara Joan (Arnold) Stokel passed away peacefully at Jensen Beach, Florida which she called home for the last 30 years, following a brief illness. She was born on January 31, 1928 in the small town of Petersburg, Indiana to Abe and Hazel (Howard) Arnold.

During the Depression Barbara’s parents moved to Flint, Michigan where her father found work in the Chevrolet factory. She graduated from Flint Technical High School in 1945 and was employed in an insurance firm. She met her future husband Edward Stokel at a General Motors Institute dance and they were married in 1949. They initially moved to Chicago but Edward was recalled into active naval service during the Korean War and they moved to Portsmouth, Virginia. In the span of just 30 months, Barbara went from being a single woman living in the comforts of home, to a married housewife in Illinois, to a Navy wife and mother of two. As she’d recall later, “sometimes it’s better to be too young and naïve than to know the situation you’re in.”

At the conclusion of Edward’s naval service, they returned to Chicago and built their first home in nearby Racine, Wisconsin, where their three younger children were born. Ultimately, they settled in Birmingham, Michigan for 25 years where they raised their family before retiring to Florida, in 1990. They were married for 51 years when Edward passed away in 2000.

An avid genealogist, Barbara’s Arnold ancestry stretches back six generations in southern Indiana and also includes Revolutionary War patriots from Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania as well as early ancestors of the colonial era dating from 1632, including the founders of Hartford, CT.

Barbara was a loving mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She was active in numerous community services, school functions, genealogical societies and local church activities. She is survived by her five children Elizabeth McNair, Barbara (Paul Kiefer), Kathryn (Peter Ligeti), Edward (Karla) and William, 11 grandchildren, 5 great-children and her sister, Beverly Arnold.

A private memorial will be held at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Stuart, Florida. Interment will occur at Sunset Hills cemetery in Flint, Michigan beside her parents and husband.

Memorial gifts in Barbara’s memory may be made to Treasure Coast Hospice (https://www.treasurehealth.org)

Online condolences may be shared by visiting Aycock Funeral Home www.aycockfuneralhome.net