Maxine Maybelle Barger

Funeral Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/97201370613 Maxine Maybelle Robinson Olmstead Barger (Micki), 96, passed away on February 11, 2023, in Spanish Fork, UT. She was born on July 18, 1926, in Myrtle Point, Oregon to Herbert Harry Robinson and Laura Belle Newland. She married Thomas H. Olmstead on April 21, 1943, in Vallejo, California. They had two daughters, Sharon Lynn and Michele Laura. They were later divorced. She married Wayne P. Barger on March 1, 1949, in Reno, Nevada. They had two daughters together, Denise Narna and Vicki Lee. They were later sealed in the Los Angeles, California Temple. Wayne also brought his three children from a previous marriage into their family: Lynn, Ida and Jimmy Barger. They looked to Micki as their mother and she loved them the same as her own children. Micki’s dad was a logger and her mom cooked for the logging crew. In the summers her family lived in a boxcar cabin (similar to the Boxcar Children) in the woods 25 miles outside of Klamath Falls, Oregon. One year an orphaned fawn was found near the camp and some of the crew captured it and gave it to Micki to raise. She shared fond memories of using a beer bottle with a nipple attached to feed the little deer, which she named Skeezix, after a popular comic strip at the time. It followed her around camp, and came running to her when she called it. When Momma was gone running errands as the camp “roustabout”, Micki was left to do the cooking. Her younger brother, Ramie, had to help her lift the heavy iron cookpot onto the old wood burning stove. She always remembered baking her first cake--the heat was inconsistent in the wood stove, making it very tricky. Her family moved around a lot--they just rented whatever house was available in town when they went back each fall so Micki and Ramie could go to school. She attended schools in Klamath Falls, Oregon and Vallejo California. To earn money, Micki started babysitting at age 12 for 50￠a night--that included doing the dishes, ironing, housework and putting the kids to bed. She was saving for a pair of Chicago roller skates. She loved her Chicagos! They had removable wheels, so you could walk home in the cute white boots after an day of skating. Micki loved to roller skate! She met her first husband at the skating rink. Even into her later years, she still had dreams at night that she was skating! Micki and her second husband, Wayne, moved around a lot, and when Micki was 41, Wayne had his first heart attack. He could no longer work, so Micki went to work at the Brown & Haley Candy Company in Tacoma, Washington. They lived in nearby Olalla for 16 years. Finally Micki got to sink some roots! Giving gifts and cards was very important to Micki. Every family member and all her friends received specially chosen gifts, birthday cards and Christmas cards each year. It was a hard time for Micki when she was no longer able to shop for gifts and cards personally. Micki & Wayne lived in Alaska from 1983 to 1988 where they built a beautiful new home at Peter’s Creek, just outside of Anchorage while Wayne was working as a Contractor building homes. Micki loved life in Alaska! She worked the front desk at a Boy’s & Girl’s Club in Anchorage. They lived in many other places including Grants Pass and Grangeville, Idaho, where they were living when Wayne passed away. When Micki was about 70, she decided she wanted to get her GED since she never graduated, so she went to the local High School to find out what to do. They gave her some workbooks to take home and complete. She said they weren’t hard, so she kept working on it until all she had left was math. The math “freaked” her out so she decided not to finish. Micki had always wanted to drive the 1,382 mile AlCan highway, so the summer she turned 75, Micki and her friend Ruthann, (traveling with Ruthann’s family) took a road trip and drove an old pickup truck from Grangeville, Idaho to Eagle, Alaska, where she stayed for the summer, then left the truck with her daughter, Vicki, who was living there. Micki was active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and held many callings through the years. Micki always wanted to be a better dancer. She also wanted to learn to swim, but was terrified of the water. She finally joined a water exercise class and became comfortable spending time at the shallow end of the pool. Micki had three wishes: more knowledge, awareness and education as a young woman; solidarity and continuity in her life as a young mother; and peace of mind now. Her advice to young people today: “It’s what you learn after you ‘know it all’ that counts.” Micki is survived by her four daughters: Shari (Philip) Bloomfield of Spanish Fork, Utah; Michele (Val-deceased) Afemata of Bellflower, California; Dede Aune of Eureka, Montana; and Vicki Roberts of Tacoma, Washington; two sons: Lynn (Gloria) Barger of Benton City, Washington; and Jimmy (Judy) Barger of Grangeville, Idaho; twenty-six grandchildren, eighty-two great-grandchildren and many, many, many great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Wayne; son-in-law, Vailesami Afemata; step-daughter, Ida Haines; step-son-in-law, Sam Haines; step-grand-daughters, Lynn Marie Deggs and Becky Haines; her parents; siblings: Richard James Robinson, Raymond Duane (Ramie) Robinson and her sister Francis Elvira McKeehan. Funeral services will be held on Friday, February 17, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. at the Spanish Fork 14th Ward Chapel, 1750 East 750 South, Spanish Fork, Utah. A viewing will be held prior to the funeral from 9:00 to 10:30. Burial will be in the Spanish Fork City Cemetery. The family would like to thank Hearthstone Manor and Utah Home Health and Hospice for the love, dedication and excellent care they gave to Micki over the past four and a half years. To view the funeral via live stream please use this website: https://zoom.us/j/97201370613 Please share memories and condolences at www.serenityfhs.com.

Maxine Maybelle Barger

July 18, 1926 - February 11, 2023