Barbara June Billings

Barbara June Billings was born at home in her grandmother’s boarding house in Kansas City, Missouri to Alice and Ernest Hicks June 17th, 1945. She left us May 20th, 2024 surrounded by family, just four weeks before her 79th birthday.

Barbara was the middle of eight children. She grew up in Missouri, and Mississippi until 1958 when Alice loaded her children into a renovated school bus and moved to Oregon. Oregon became home to Barbara, and she considered herself an Oregonian more than belonging to anywhere else. Oregon brought her dear step father Monty Ross, and seven more siblings. She graduated from Junction City High School in 1963, and she was a proud tiger all her life.

Barbara was many things in her life; a daughter, sister, aunt, wife, friend, beautician, CNA, daycare teacher, hospice worker, and home health aide for the elderly, disabled, and developmentally delayed. She enjoyed many hobbies; baking, crocheting, sewing, photography, quilting, wood working, embroidery, knitting, painting, and gardening. She loved to share her creations with her family, friends, and community. Whether a loaf of banana bread, a handmade blanket, or the hundreds of masks she made for the hospital during the pandemic, Barbara gave it with love and pride. There wasn’t a task she couldn’t master, or a problem she couldn’t solve.

Of all the roles she took on, and all the things she did, she most loved being a mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. Her seven children were her pride and joy. To them she was a shining example of what strength, tenacity, hard work, humor, and a little stubbornness could do. She will be dearly missed.

Barbara is survived by daughter Michelle, son Scott with his wife Lori, son Kevin with his wife Jennifer, son Brian with his wife Rachel, son Steven with his wife Heather, daughter Suzanne with her husband Robert, daughter Amber with her husband Aaron, 21 grandchildren, and 8 great grandchildren.

A private memorial will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers please send donations to Klamath Hospice or Klamath Animal Shelter.