Barbara Ann (Miller) Meinecke, 73, passed away on October 17, 2019 in Omaha, NE. She grew up in Lyman, NE (a mile from the Wyoming border). The chores of Job’s Daughters meetings, playing drums, piano lessons, dating, and tolerating her much younger twin brothers resulted in her graduating from Lyman High School with “okay” grades in 1964.
In 1965 Barb married her husband Gary; a former Marine, and good-looking to boot. They raised three troublemaker daughters: Sandra (Hesham Ali), Patricia (Barry Bedlan), and Deborah (Phil Runyan).
Every two years or so, Barb would get tired of where she was living and forcefully suggest the family move to another state and/or city. Over the years, she cycled through many strange and sometimes horrible jobs. As a soda jerk, Barb was forced to drink malt remnants, and because of the extra pounds, had to quit. One of her most traumatic experiences was working as a school bus driver. The waking dreams she had of beating badly behaved children led her to turn her bus keys in. Barb and her husband managed a hotel in Fremont, NE where they were culturally enlightened with their boss’s Indian curry, Bollywood movies, and the virtues of vegetarianism. The whole vegetarian thing proved to be too much, so Barb became a secretary for a meat packing plant where she used her limited Spanish to tell unqualified workers, “Vaya con Dios.” Barb’s life took her through many more odd jobs we are unable to recall. Most importantly, Barb worked as a manager at a fast food place, and though we can’t tell you the name, she was adamant that no one should eat from the salad bar.
After crossing into her fifties, Barb went back to school to get her nursing degree. This time her grades were all A’s.
Barb’s husband of 48 years, Gary, preceded her in death, along with her parents Norma and John Miller, brother Kent Miller, Aunt and Uncle Nadine and Ernest Capek, and close cousin, John Capek.
Barb is survived by her furry son, Taz, three daughters, their husbands that she was never too fond of, and six smart and handsome grandsons, who all at one point or another had her pulling the last patches of hair from her head. She is also survived by one of her smart allecky twin brothers, Brent Miller and his wife Sue, her niece, Stephanie Haught-Cox, her sister-in-law Val Miller, nephew Eric and many loved caregivers and friends.
Her memorial graveside service will be held on Thursday, May 27, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. at West Lawn Cemetery. Online condolences may be left at www.geringchapel.com
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