Barbara Kohler

     Through all of these life adventures, I have been most grateful to have Barbara at my side. I have come to the conclusion that the best way to evaluate anyone from a Gospel standpoint, since our hope is someday to improve and be on the path to perfection, eventually, to become more like the Savior, would be to develop as he did.  We read in Luke 2:52, that Jesus grew in “wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”  Consequently, we need to develop in the areas of intellectuality, physically, socially and spiritually. Throughout our lives together she has exhibited these qualities in amazing ways.

Intellectually

     Barbara is intellectually very bright.  She was a distinguished graduate from BYU.  She had majored in secretarial skills, e.g. shorthand, type, and business English.  She minored in accounting and German (so she could understand more of what her Swiss-German uncles and father were saying when they conversed.)

     She obtained a secondary teaching certificate and was hired to teach her major specialties at Boxelder High School in Brigham City, Utah.  [Actually, she had made such an impression on the faculty during her undergraduate work that, just before returning from her mission, she was invited to become a faculty member in the School of Business at BYU to teach her major skills!]

     Musically, she is accomplished.  She played the violin in the BYU Symphony Orchestra and was blessed with a remarkable mezzo-soprano singing voice.  Although never having studied Spanish before her mission, she was a quick learner and developed speaking the language with skill and a very excellent accent. She was, and is, a gifted speaker who threads solid content laced with good humor.

     I observed that she was a prodigious worker who tackled any assignment with dedication and enthusiasm.  She was always busy, crocheting, sewing, typing, or whatever.  [Obviously, her mother had seen to it that she had learned excellent home-making skills of cooking, cleaning, patching, laundry and all that goes into being a home maker.]

Physically

     I learned that she was blessed with a healthy body.  As a young girl in the 4-H clubs in Wasatch County, she had won the prize as being judged as the healthiest young girl—two years in a row.  (She had her first cavity filled by the dentist after giving birth to six children!)

Socially

     I have never known anyone who could make friends more effectively than Barbara.  She was always interested in others and they recognized it.  She was an excellent conversationalist and she always wanted to know more about anyone she met.  Later, I recognized that she would be among the first to recognize new move-ins in the ward and would see that she met them and quickly thereafter, they would receive a welcoming fresh-baked loaf of bread, or whatever. No one was ever left out from receiving an invitation to whatever activity or party in which our children were involved. She was, and is, a consummate affectionate “people person.”

Spiritually

     Barbara was blessed with a solid testimony of the Gospel, a remarkable gift of faith and solid commitment to do what is right.  She studied the scriptures, Gospel doctrine, kept up on General Conference messages.  She still reads the entire monthly Improvement Era or Ensign.  She was curious and always wanted to know the “why” of doctrinal issues.  She received her Temple endowment blessings as a single university graduate as soon as it seemed appropriate and at least a year before receiving her mission call.