Barbara Dee Hanberg McGee

Barbara Hanberg McGee was born to Roy J Hanberg and Armida Petty on August 24, 1930 in Bynum, Montana. She was the third child. Her parents had moved to Montana from Utah to homestead and have their own farm. Barbara had 3 siblings, Donna (Jay Brimley), Ted (Nan Cook), and Carol (Mark Turley). Ted is the only sibling still living and both parents are deceased. Her father was born in Heber City, Utah of Danish ancestry. He met Armida, whom everyone called Midge, and they married on Christmas Day in 1925 in Gunnison, Utah. They later solemnized their marriage in the Alberta Temple. Their first two children, Donna and Ted, were born in Latuda, Utah (Carbon county) where Roy worked as a coal miner. Worried about getting Black Lung Disease, they joined a group of others who bought farmland in Montana and moved to homestead. This is where Barbara and Carol were born. Barb could remember having many different farm duties. Some were unusual like killing rattlesnakes so their family and animals could be safe. Others were the typical farming duties like gathering eggs, milking the cows, and driving the tractor to plow the fields. She was given this duty at quite a young age, and her feet couldn't reach the pedals. Her father had to put blocks on the pedals so she could reach, or he would start the tractor to get her started then hop off to go do his work. When it was time to stop, he would hop back on to stop the tractor. She always worried if he would remember her, but of course he did. She grew up on the farm during the Great Depression and her parents had to be very thrifty. She had one dress for church, one for school, and a set of work/play clothes. When her school dress was a year old, it became her play outfit and her Sunday dress became her school dress. Because of the Great Depression, she often got hand-me-downs. If a winter coat became worn on the edges, it was picked apart and the pieces were turned inside out and sewn back together again. Her father also learned to make the family's shoes during this time. He also supplemented the farm income as a carpenter. Although she never had to take it to the same degree, Barbara remained thrifty throughout her life. After she graduated from high school, she went away to college where she studied to become a school teacher. It was also at college that she met her future husband, Roy McGee. It was an atypical romance because at that time he was a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They were often invited to a ward member's house for dinner at the same time where they developed an immediate attraction. At one point, Roy shared his feelings with his mission president as he did not want to violate any rules. They both believed that he would be immediately transferred, but luckily, he was not. While Roy never officially proposed marriage, by the time he was transferred, they both had an "understanding" and kept in communication through letters for the duration of his mission. At one time during this quasi engagement, Roy served in the ward where Barb's parents lived. One week after Roy returned from his mission to his home in New Mexico, he borrowed a car and traveled back to Montana to get Barb and within a couple of weeks they were married in the Idaho Falls Temple on December 27, 1950. After they were married, they returned to New Mexico where Roy got a job running a trading post at Keam's Canyon on the Hopi Reservation. This is where their first child Diana was born. Roy was the Branch President of the church there and had two counselors: one a Hopi and the other a Navajo. Neither would talk to each other. In general, the two tribes were unfriendly to each other. However, when Diana was born the sisters in the branch came together to give Barb a baby shower. After a couple of years on the reservation, Roy developed some health problems and was incapable of working. Barb could not run the trading post and care for the family by herself so she wrote to her parents for help. They sent money and an invitation to come home. Barb loaded the car with Roy, her baby, and their belongings and headed back to Montana. Her parents cared for Diana while Barb and Roy went to a nearby town to get settled. They had a tiny apartment on the second story of a house where Barb looked for a job teaching school. One day she left Diana in Roy's care while she ran some errands. Diana had gotten into lipstick and colored all over herself and her clothing. When she came back she found a messy house and a dirty baby. Her only clean clothes being an ugly gray, flannel dress she had received during her baby shower. Barb had been unable to throw the dress away because of the sentiment behind it and Roy had dressed Diana in it. At the same time that Barb returned home to this state of disarray, the superintendent of the school district arrived for a job interview. She always said she believed that he felt sorry for her and gave her the job out of pity as she had yet to graduate from college and receive her teaching certificate. While Roy was recovering from his health problems, Barb was able to teach school and continue her education to get her teaching certificate. Interestingly, at the time college degrees were not needed to get a teaching certificate. Barb never received her college degree. However, years later she was offered a teaching position with a university in Utah. She always thought that was really funny and for various reasons she did not accept the position. When Roy's health improved, they moved to Bozeman, Montana where Randy was born. Roy became the breadwinner of the family, as they moved around to a couple of towns. Eventually, they moved back to New Mexico where they began running the trading post called Tocito. It was located on the Navajo Reservation about an hour south of Shiprock, New Mexico. Randy was a toddler when they moved there and the Navajos loved him. Roy and Barb developed a deep love for the Navajo people. When Roy had to leave on business, one particular man would patrol the perimeter of the property every night before he went to bed to make sure everything was safe. One of the women taught Barb about weaving the famous Navajo rugs and even allowed her to help on one. Barb kept that rug for most of her life until she gave it to Randy. One day, Barb was minding the store by herself. The store was laid out in such a fashion that all of the goods were behind a counter that was a horseshoe shape around three sides of the store. Customers would come to the counter to be waited on and give the clerk, Barb or Roy, their order. Barb learned some Navajo but not a lot. At that time many of the Navajos did not speak English. One day, a man came to the counter but Barb could not figure out what he wanted. So naturally he resorted to pantomime. Step one: he mimed drinking from a bottle. Step two: he put his hands in front of his stomach, rumbled his fingers together and made gurgling noises. Step three: he put his hands to the side of each hip with his fingers together, pointing straight down and made squirting sounds with his mouth. Barb understood. He wanted a laxative! Bard and Roy often had the LDS missionaries living in a trailer parked on the edge of their property and would share the goat's milk with them. Randy was allergic to cow's milk at that time so they relied on goat's milk. When Barb was pregnant with Bryan, she had a hard time milking the goat because her pregnant belly got in the way. She could do it but it wasn't easy and it irritated her that the missionaries would not help. They were probably city kids and had no idea of what to do, but it still irritated her. It was hard for them to leave this trading post. They had had plans to buy it with one of Roy's cousins, Mel as a partner. However, Mel was killed in a car accident during the process and the sale fell through. Additionally, Bryan had been born with some medical problems so they left for Utah to access better medical care. They settled in Provo, Utah for about a year then bought a small home in Kearns, Utah to be closer to Primary Children's Medical Center. After working in a grocery store for some time, Roy secured a job with Hercules Powder Company where he retired many years later. While living in Kearns, Barb again started working as a teacher in an elementary school to supplement their income. Diana and Randy started school. After about 5 years, they moved into a newer home on Westlake Avenue about 3 miles away. Kim was born shortly after, and they remained at that house for over 25 years. Their farming roots were given full expression here. They had enough land to grow a fabulous vegetable garden, and were known around the neighborhood for their raspberries. Roy was constantly finding new places to compost. When they eventually moved, the soil was so loose and rich that a person could dig in the flower beds with bare hands. Barb returned to college to become a Special Education teacher. They had become cognizant of Bryan's educational needs and Barb wanted to do her best by him. She taught Special Education in both Elementary and High School. She loved her students and informally adopted a couple. Eventually, their children married and started families of their own. Diana married James (Jim) Fillmore and had six children: Eli, Rachel, Rafe, Becky, Seth, and Jonathon. Randy married Sandy Stone and had four children: Amber, Jeremy, Emily, and Tyler. Kim married Cindi Steele and had three children: Connor, Kyler, and Ciara. At the time of her passing, she was the great-grandmother to 33 great-grandchildren. The most important things to Barbara were family and church. She had an intense desire to find and know her family. She began working on family history at age 18 and continued researching until age 80. She loved attending family reunions, and would drag everyone in the family to all of them. She dearly and passionately loved her immediate and extended family. Most of the family vacations centered on visiting family members out of town. She was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served in many different capacities over the years. She loved her fellow ward members as if they were her own family. In their sixties, Roy and Barbara left their home on Westlake Avenue and moved to West Jordan, Utah. Being a newly built home, they had to start over with a new yard and had to put in new landscaping. This took many physically demanding hours to do, however they quickly had the best yard in the neighborhood. Barb's greatest sorrows were when one of her family members would pass. While she had great faith in the Plan of Salvation and that we would be all together again, she hated the separations. Roy's health began failing during his late seventies. She took care of him in their home until he passed from prostate cancer at the age of 80. For the next nine years she and Bryan remained in their home. As her health declined, Bryan became a great support to her. Alzheimer's eventually overtook her and she was unable to live in her own home. She moved into the Assisted Living Center of Draper for her two final years while Bryan remained in the family home. It was at the Assisted Living Center that she peacefully passed away a couple of days after Thanksgiving on November 25, 2017. Despite being well cared for she never lost the desire to be in her own home. While her children and grandchildren love her and are sorry to see her pass, they are grateful that she is finally able to be reunited with her beloved husband Roy, her sisters Donna and Carol, and her parents in her eternal home with her Heavenly Father. We believe that there was a long receiving line of people she had searched out in her genealogical work welcoming her and thanking her for her years of dedicated research. There will be a public viewing held from 9:30 am - 10:45 am on Saturday, December 2nd at the LDS church on 3930 West 7875 South, followed by an extended family only funeral service at 11:00 am. Place of Birth:Bynum, Montana (Teton Country)Place of Death:Draper, Utah