Diana May Kauffman

Diana May (Barnes) Kauffman died in Bakersfield, CA 2/24/2018 at the age of 87. Born in May of 1930 to Angie (Hill) and Clark Barnes in the little town of Circleville, Kansas, Diana was raised through the Great Depression (1929-1939) and World War II (1941-1945). A rough beginning that set the tone for her simple, thrifty and conservative life. She graduated from Topeka High School in 1948 and went to work for Blue Cross. She soon married the love of her life, Harvey Rex Kauffman, Jr., June 18, 1948. He was her husband for life. She followed him from base to base as he served in the Air Force during the Korean War and her first son was born on station in Great Lakes, Illinois. Once their tour of duty was up they moved back to their home state of Kansas where her second son was born in 1956. The family moved to California in 1958 and bought the house they still lived in on Esther Dr. in Bakersfield in 1959. For Diana, family was first priority. She was always a stay-at-home Mom. She made sure her husband and kids had hot meals, clean clothes and a clean comfortable home to live in. Diana lived within their budget by being very self sufficient. She cooked nearly every meal. Meals out were rare and only for special occasions. She became an accomplished seamstress. She made clothes for herself and her children, re-upholstered used furniture and made her own drapes and curtains. In later years she helped many neighbors and friends get started sewing or with their more complex sewing tasks. She also crocheted afghans and throws and quilted covers for cool nights in front of the television, as extra bedcovers and as splashes of color on furniture to accent the decor. She canned anything and everything they could grow or acquire; mostly fruits but also many vegetables. She made dozens of quarts of pickles every year from cucumbers grown in the home garden. She was famous for her hot dills but her sweet pickles and bread and butter pickles were both very good too. With two boys, she, of course, was good at bandaging scrapes and wounds, had to help with school work and always stressed mid-west American family values and the value of “hard work”. As her children got a little older and more independent, she gained some free time for herself and took up hobbies. She liked oil painting and many extended family members have a piece of her work. There are maybe 10 hanging in her home on Esther Dr. today. She loved crafts and decorated the house with all sorts of shadow boxes, baskets and wall and vase arrangements of dried plants backed or framed by accent colored fabrics. It was simple, neat and country tasteful. She liked reading; mostly novels set in the American West. Besides Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color (the Sunday night family tradition with popcorn and A&W root beer) and Lawrence Welk, westerns were her TV shows and movies of choice. She was one of John Wayne’s biggest fans. Possibly her biggest hobby or activity was music. She has always loved music. She taught herself to play the piano. She played by ear and was pretty good. She also played the ukulele a little. Whenever the extended family got together they would request her play and sing. She was a member of Sweet Adelines and performed with them for nearly two decades as a bass in a quartet. She loved the stage and singing trips with her girlfriends. Her youngest son, Kent, presented her with two grandchildren and she adored the role of Grandmother. She loved having the grandkids around and spent many an hour including them in baking, canning and pickling activities as well as stimulating their interests in art and music. She was proud of the accomplishments of her grandchildren. A couple of decades later she became a Great Grandma to three more children and the pattern started all over again. A little beyond canning and pickling, she still read and sang to the great grandkids and supplied them with all the crayons, pencils and paper they needed to trigger any artistic talents. She spent her last years quietly with her husband in the home they made on Esther Dr. She is survived by her husband of 69 years, her brother Gary (& Deanna) Barnes, her son Kris (& Trisha) Kauffman, daughter-in-law Kathy Kauffman, Grandchildren, Lindsay (& Steven) Bentley and Stephen (& Leslie) Kauffman, and great Grandchildren, Grace and Grant Bentley and Allison Kauffman. She is preceded in death by her parents, Clark and Angie Barnes, step father Clarence Pierce and son Kent Kauffman. There will be no public services. Diana’s ashes will be buried in the family plot in Circleville, Kansas Cemetery.