Grandma Barbara

Barbara Halladay Sargant Williams is the grandma our sons remember. She and Howard were married a couple of years after Mary died and were together for 19 years. She was a fun-loving, enthusiastic woman who brought "new life" to Howard's naturally quiet personality.

Barbara grew up in Tropic, Utah. Her home life was not ideal, and she was plagued by many health problems, but it didn't dampen her outgoing, lively personality. She had many friends and was always involved in social activities, often using her talents for the piano and singing to help with the entertainment.

She had only one son, Nolan. From him she had three grandchildren, two boys and one girl, whom she dearly loved. Because of serious misconduct, Nolan and his wife lost their children to be adopted by another couple. For many years Barbara didn't know where they were. When the oldest son was about to graduate from high school he got permission to invite Barbara to his graduation, which was somewhere in Idaho. It was a great joy to her to finally be somewhat reunited with her (by then grown up) grandchildren.

When Barbara and Howard got married, she became grandma to Howard's grandchildren, especially to our six sons who had no other grandmother. She treated them as much like her own as they would let her, always interested in their doings, welcoming them into her home, and always remembering their birthdays and special days. She always had a dinner for Howard's family during the Christmas season, and she provided and prepared all the food for it. Sometimes her recipes were a little unusual, but they tasted pretty good.

Her ability to have company and go out in public became quite restricted in her later years by her many health problems. She was always allergic to all kinds of things, foods, smells, medicines, but it became worse as she got older. It took very little to trigger a life-threatening asthma attack, and she would cycle through two or thee every year. She was also prone to accidents and other problems, for some reason. It was amazing that although she went through times of discouragement, she could always find something to laugh about. She really tried to make the best of things so people wouldn't know how much she suffered.

She was a good friend to me, and although she isn't a family member through temple sealings, I look forward to further association with her in the eternities as a sister in the family of God.