Barbara Jean Tucker

Barbara was born in Phoenix, AZ on October 14, 1944 to Gail A. Henry and Juanita White Henry. Mrs. Henry moved Barbara and her two sisters to Kansas City shortly after her birth to be closer to family, as Mr. Henry was drafted by the US Army to serve in WWII. When her father was discharged from military service, the family made their permanent home in Kansas City. She attended schools in Shawnee and Overland Park, Kansas, graduating from Shawnee Mission North High School in 1962. Barbara, an employee of Commerce Bank, met her husband, Paul Tucker, and married February 28, 1964. After her marriage ended, Barbara moved to Springfield, Missouri in 1978 to live closer to her mother, where she resided until her death.

Quiet and introspective, Barbara kept to herself. She liked painting still lifes and the Grand Canyon, loved animals, and she was an extraordinary gardener of various flowers and vegetable species. She was drawn to novel or unusual ways to use her garden harvests, such as making jalapeno jelly or tomato jam. Barbara was skillful at needle crafts, such as crochet, and she gifted a number of her hand-made items to family and friends over the years.

Barbara was preceded in death by both of her parents and one daughter, Juanita Irene Desjardnis. She is survived by a son, Leslie Tucker of Republic, Missouri; a daughter, Rebecca Swaggerty of Hannibal, Missouri; three sisters, Carol Carter of Laughlin, Nevada, Patricia Mattoon of La Luz, New Mexixo, Elizabeth Henry of Louisville, Kentucky; two grandchildren, Ryan Tucker of Jersey City, New Jersey and Jacob Desjardinis of Jacksonville, Florida.

A Celebration of Life and Graveside Service will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 30, 2022 at Mt. Moriah, Newcomer & Freeman Funeral Home and Cemetery, 10507 Holmes Road, Kansas City, Missouri.