Barbara Rae Brisco

Barbara (Barb), daughter of Raymond Johnson and Florence Johnson, was 83 when she went to be with Jesus Christ, her Lord and Savior.

Barb felt called to be a missionary nurse while a youth in Nyack, New York. She lived her life following that calling to care for and serve others. After graduating high school, she attended Nyack College for one year and then transferred to Fort Wayne Bible College, earning a bachelor’s degree of Missionary Nursing, in partnership with the Lutheran Hospital School of Nursing. While attending the Gospel Temple, an Alliance church in Ft. Wayne, she met and began dating Ken Brisco, also a Nyack College transfer. After earning her bachelor’s degree and becoming a registered nurse, Barb and Ken married in 1966.

Barb and Ken went on to language school in McAllen, Texas as part of preparing to serve as missionaries for The Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA). Son Steve was born in McAllen, five months before they moved to Colombia, S.A. to start their overseas missionary service. During her nine years of missionary service in Colombia, Barb took on many roles including missionary nurse, Bible instructor to university students, missionary guest house manager, Sunday school teacher, learned to play the accordion in order provide music accompaniment to Sunday’s worship music. During this time, Barb also bore two more children, Sharon (Kitzmiller), and Scott.

In 1977, Barb and Ken returned to the United States on a furlough and endeavored to obtain a diagnosis and proper care for their disabled son Scott. In 1979, upon leaving overseas missionary service, Barb supported the family as a professional nurse while Ken earned his Master’s degree at Wheaton College Graduate School. Barb continued as a full-time nurse and mother to her three children and supported Ken in his calling to serve the Latino community via C&MA Spanish Ministries. After many years, Barb finished her nursing career by caring for those in hospice care.

Barb partnered with Ken in continuous service to the Latino community as Ken’s roles varied throughout the years, jointly ministering to Latino families in the Chicagoland suburbs and then in the Sacramento and Woodland, California area.

In 2016, Barb and Ken retired to Lakewood, Colorado to be closer to their children and grandchildren. They bookmarked their formal ministry by participating and becoming members of Lakewood Christian Fellowship Church, a C&MA church.

Barb was preceded in death by her mother and father, Florence Johnson, and Raymond Johnson. She is survived by her husband, Ken; children, Steven, Sharon, and Scott; and grandchildren, Cody, Saige, Sydney, and Croix.