Rhoda Barker

Rhoda C. Barker, age 99, of Atwater, died Thursday morning, May 31, at the Sunnyview Assisted Living Center in Atwater.
Funeral service will be 11:00 a.m. Monday, June 4, at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Atwater. Interment will be at Union Cemetery in Atwater. Visitation will be 4-7 p.m. Sunday, June 3, at Peterson Brothers Atwater Funeral Home and one hour prior to the service at the church.
Cynthia Rhoda Barker was born June 12, 1912, in Jeffers, Minnesota, the daughter of John and Emma (Tuttle) Knott. She grew up in the Jeffers community and graduated from Jeffers High School in 1929. On May 27, 1931, she married Earl Nelson Barker in Jeffers and they lived and farmed in rural Jeffers. In 1951, they moved to a farm in rural Atwater. Earl died in 1969. Rhoda then worked for a time at Willmar Poultry and later at the Willow Cove Restaurant in Atwater. She moved into Atwater in 1973 and has lived at Sunnyview Assisted Living since 2007.
Rhoda was an active member of the Atwater United Methodist Church and delivered Meals on Wheels for many years. She loved to garden and have ladies over for coffee. She is remembered by family and friends as hard working and fiesty.
She is survived by five sons: Kenneth (and Mae) Barker of Kandiyohi, Delbert Barker of Champlin, Eugene (and Mary Jane) Barker of Grove City, Fred (and Melinda) Barker of Grove City and Glenn (and Paula) Barker of Atwater; three daughters: Ruth Lange of Perham, Karen Willaby of Emmons and Shirley (and Dale) Hubert of St. Cloud; 26 grandchildren; 57 great-grandchildren; many great-great-grandchildren; and other relatives and friends.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband: Earl in 1969; seven brothers: Joseph, George, Howard, Woodrow, James, Richard and Fred; three sisters: Enid Carter, Katheryn Rand and Edna Messenbrink; two sons-in-law: Alvin Willaby amd Merle Lange; and a grandson: Bruce Willaby.