Daily Sitka Sentinel

Mary Ann Barden

    Graveside services for Mary Ann Barden, a former longtime Sitka resident, will be held 11 a.m. Friday, July 6 at Sitka National Cemetery.
    A gathering of family and friends will follow at noon at St. Peter’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church See House,  hosted by Episcopal Church Women.
    Mary Ann died Sept. 9, 2011, in Meridian, Idaho, at age 82.
    She was born Feb. 24, 1929, in Sitka, the daughter of Ollie (Oskolkoff) and Innocent Herman. Except for two years living in Tacoma, Wash., the hometown of her husband, Robert Barden, she lived in Sitka until retiring  in 1997, when she moved to Boise, Idaho, where daughter Claudia and grandson Kevin Johnson were living.
    After her husband’s sudden death in 1972, Mary Ann worked at Sitka Community Hospital, Sheldon Jackson College and the Daily Sitka Sentinel. Her last employment was as a bookkeeper for Stan Filler at Ernie’s  Old Time Saloon.
    She also did excellent needlework, particularly knitting, and her pieces were prized at St. Peter’s bazaars, and cherished by family and friends from generation to generation.
    She was preceded in death by her husband, Bob; son Dennis Barden in 1993; grandson Bobby Barden in 2000; and two sisters, Norma and Jeannette.
    Surviving are two brothers, Richard Brookman (Jan) of Sitka, and Albert Brookman (Georgene) of Juneau; sister Irene Saden (Chuck) of Anchorage; sons Bob Barden (Dolores) of Boise and Dave Barden (Jacki) of Cheney, Wash.; and daughters Joelle Eimers (John) and Claudia of Boise,  and Rosemary Burnett (Pat) of Sitka.
    Also surviving are 13 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren, and several cousins, nieces and nephews.