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Barbara Lenora Spellman, 83

Barbara Lenora Spellman passed away peacefully on Nov. 5, 2019, in Redding, Calif., at the age of 83. She was born Sept. 13, 1936, in Spokane, Wash., and grew up on the family farm in Cataldo, Idaho. She participated in 4H and church activities and loved to sing. She was exceptionally talented in sewing and cooking. As a senior in high school, she won the 4H cherry pie baking contest in Idaho and represented Idaho in the national cook-off in Chicago.

Barbara graduated from Rose Lake High School in 1954 and went to North Idaho College, where she met her future husband, Donald Spellman. They both attended Whitworth University in Spokane and were married in 1957 while attending the university. She graduated in 1958 and began her career in Spokane, teaching second grade.

In 1959, they moved to Palo Alto, Calif., so her husband could attend graduate school, and she continued her career teaching home economics at the junior high level. Over the years she taught in Hayward, Mountain View, Palo Alto and Morgan Hill. She encouraged boys to enroll in her sewing classes by teaching them how to make sleeping bags, backpacks and other outdoor gear.

In 1983, the family moved to Redding, Calif., where Barbara taught junior high social studies for 18 years before she retired in 2003. During her career, she taught second grade, high school adult education and college community education, but her real love was teaching seventh graders.

Barbara was preceded in death by her parents, Robert Harrison Monteith and Miriam Dorothea Monteith; her older brother, Bobby Monteith, and her younger sister, Beverly Brumfield. She is survived by her husband of 62 years, Donald Spellman of Reddin; son, Todd (Patty) Spellman of Gilroy, Calif.; daughter, Kari Spellman of Kiev, Ukraine; sister-in-law, Joanne Monteith of Hayden; brother-in-law, Bud Ford of Coeur d’Alene; grandchildren Amanda (Adam) Fortino of Gilroy, Laura Spellman of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Greg (Marie) Spellman of Minot, N.D., Harrison (Rose) Drummond of Salem, Ore. and Miriam (Paul) Kirse of Pendleton, Ore., great-grandchildren Todd, Elsie, Jessie and Cole; and many nieces and nephews.

A funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 22, 2019, at English Funeral Chapel, 1133 N. Fourth St., Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814. Interment will follow at Riverview Cemetery in Coeur d’Alene. To see Barbara’s online memorial and to leave a message for the family, please visit www.englishfuneralchapel.com.