Jo Barta, 89

Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Jo Barta

Johanna "Jo" Marie (Evers) Barta, 89, formerly of Mountain Home, died May 27, 2007, at a Pocatello care center.

Funeral services will be held Wednesday, June 6 at 2 p.m. in the Downard Funeral Home, 241 N. Garfield Ave., Pocatello, with Bishop Gary Packham conducting. Burial and grave dedication will be June 7 in Mountain View Cemetery in Mountain Home.

Johanna "Jo" was born on a farm outside Hildreth, Neb., the only daughter of John and Lena (Buss) Evers. Jo had a half-brother and three brothers. She graduated from high school in Hildreth and continued her education at the Hastings Business College in Hastings, Neb..

While working at the Ford Garage in Hastings, Jo met Frank "Sam" Barta and they were married in 1939.

Jo and Sam lived in Hastings until 1942 when they moved to Idaho. Sam worked construction projects for Morrison Knudsen, so Jo and Sam lived in many places, including Mountain Home, Arco, Lyle (Washington), Cambridge, Hells Canyon (Brownlee and Oxbow), Boise, and Camden (Alabama).

When Sam retired they moved to Mountain Home. After Sam's death Jo moved to Boise and then to Pocatello. In Pocatello Jo resided at Cotton Wood Cove and then Highland Hills.

"Jo was very devoted to Sam and was a very good homemaker, excellent seamstress, wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother," her family said. "Jo loved spending time with her family."

Jo is survived by: a daughter, Debra (Steve) Beebe, of La Quinta, Calif.; a son, Willis (Norma) Barta, of Chubbuck; a step-son, Charles (Pat) Barta, of Marana, Ariz.; a step-daughter, Phyllis Minnesota of Pocatello; a brother, George (Lucille) of Evers, Arvada, Colo.; 10 grand-children, and 18 great-grand-children.

Jo was preceded in death by her husband, Frank "Sam" Barta, brothers Willis and Ray Evers, a half-brother, Herman Evers, and a grandson, Peter Barta.