Submitted by: Dan Rich
Barbara Ann Hartman
About 1950 - Sept. 16, 2003
South Bend Tribune 9/23/2003
Barbara Ann Hartman, nee Keltner,
53, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Tuesday, Sept. 16,
2003 at the Cass County Medical Care Facility in Cassopolis,
Mich., where she had been a resident for the past thirteen years
and where she had waged a long and courageous battle against
multiple sclerosis (m.s.) which had slowly robbed her of her
physical capacities.
We remember Bobbie, however, as the
beautiful and beloved daughter of Mary E. and Dale B Keltner
(both deceased), granddaughter of Orville J. and Carrie B.
Keltner and Lois and Shelley Ingram, sister of Karen Keltner (of
San Diego, Calif.) and mother of Jason Dale Hartman (of Tampa,
Fla.) and Ruth Ann Duncan (of Gadsden, Ala.).
As a child, Bobbie was small and dainty with
beautiful blond ringlets, a girl who loved to sing and dance,
although not necessarily in that order, as evidenced by her first
appearance with the Angel Choir of the First Presbyterian Church
in South Bend, Indiana, where the family were members.
She attended Forest G. Hay School, across
the street from her family's home on Jewel Avenue in Centre
Township. She graduated from Andrew Jackson High School in 1968
and attended Indiana University in Bloomington.
As a high school student she served as a
dedicated Candy Striper at South Bend Memorial Hospital. Bobbie
had grown into a beautiful and graceful young woman who was a
loyal friend and a great lover of animals. She was extremely
proud of her son Jason and delighted in her family and friends
until m.s. began to claim her. Her sister cherishes the memories
of Bobbie as a child, enthusiastically (and unceasingly)
practicing her tap-dance number "I'm a Beautiful Doll!"
as she prepared for her dance recital, her picky eating habits as
a child, special childhood games played together, our fascination
with "elmers" (our invented name for the little gray
bugs that roll up into a ball), and Bobbie's exclamations of
"Kee! Kee!" (for "Cow! Cow!") as she learned
to talk as a toddler. Car trips accompanied by Bobbie's
exuberant, enthusiastic, and off-key singing are also wonderful
memories. Most of all, Bobbie and her memory are cherished
for the joy she once brought to us all as a child and a young
woman with her sometimes irreverent ways, her zany and wicked
sense of humor ("I think they've got the wrong sister in the
hospital, Karen!"), and her abiding love of her family as
she struggled against the encroaching indignities of her illness.
May you now have all the fried shrimp you
want, dear Bobbie, and may you once again see and hear and touch
and know the love of your dear son and daughter and all those who
loved you and whom you loved.
Barbara was preceded in death by her
husband, Thomas L. Hartman of Dowagiac, MI, and parents, Dale and
Mary Keltner. She is survived by her son, Jason, and
daughter-in-law, Christina Hartman; her daughter, Ruth Ann Duncan
and granddaughter, Kaitlyn; her sister, Karen Keltner, aunts
Irene and Betty, uncle Ted, and cousins Michael, Sandra, Alan,
Carolyn, Ted, Bob, and Marilyn.