Barbara Jo Starks' Obituary
Barbara J Crawford Starks, age 79, died on May 14, 2026, in Wamego, KS, where she had been a resident of Homestead Assisted Living for the past two and a half years.
Barabara was born May 26, 1946, in Tulsa, OK. She was the youngest daughter of Horton Crawford and Alta Crawford (Wisehaupt). She spent her childhood in the same home in Tulsa on Darlington St and graduated from Nathan Hale High school in 1964. After high school she attended Oklahoma State University for two years before getting married and moving to Kansas.
Barbara spent most of her adult life in and around Wichita, KS. She worked in Kingman, KS as a police dispatcher and EMT for the ambulance service before returning to college to pursue a career as an RN. She completed her associate’s degree in nursing from Pratt Community College, KS in 1985. She worked as a bedside nurse at local hospitals then as a nurse case manager in insurance companies. She completed her BSN at Southwestern College, KS in 2000. She retired at age 72 after 32 years in the profession.
Barbara was very proud of her two children, attending every swim meet, track and cross country meet they participated in through college. She also loved her dogs and granddogs and always rescued her dogs from a local shelter.
Barbara was very active in singles groups in Wichita, KS. She enjoyed planning social events and hosting parties in her home. She enjoyed traveling and checking off the places on her bucket list. Some highlights were visiting Honolulu, HI; hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon; spending her 60th birthday in New York City, NY; riding in a hot air balloon in Albuquerque, NM; riding a tram to the top of Pikes Peak; attending Indy car races in Indianapolis; seeing lighthouses from Cape Cod, MA, to Maine; walking across the Golden Gate bridge; and her final trip on her 70th birthday to Niagara Falls, NY. She was an avid fan of the Oklahoma State Cowboys and would attend the yearly Homecoming Parade in Stillwater, OK. She loved the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and spending them with her children, grandchildren, and nieces and their children.
A celebration of life will be held on May 26, 2026, 10 am at Floral Haven Funeral Home in Broken Arrow, OK, on what would have been her 80th birthday. She will be buried near her parents who preceded her in death. She was also preceded in death by her sister, Paula Hamm and brother in law Tommy Hamm.
She is survived by her daughter Brenda Starks Fonseca (Tim) of Shawnee, KS and David Starks (Mary) of Manhattan, KS; grandchildren Bill Gervasi of Enid, OK, Sydney Starks of Oklahoma City. OK and Logan Starks of Manhattan, KS; nieces, Shelly Barbour of Broken Arrow, OK and Sherry Hamm Morales of Edmond, OK as well as several great nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers the family suggests making a donation to the Enid SPCA animal rescue https://enidspca.org/.
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