OHMAN; Barbara Mabel (Nee Bennewith)
1920 - 2015
It is with great sadness that the family of Barbara (nee Bennewith) (formerly Kennedy) Ohman, announces that she passed away peacefully at home in Agassiz, BC, on Tuesday November 17, 2015 at the age of 95. Barbara was born on July 22, 1920 on the family farm in Rosedale, BC, the fifth of ten children. She was predeceased by her parents James and Florence Bennewith who immigrated to Canada and the Rosedale area from Gloucestershire, England in 1910. In 1932 the family moved to a farm on Cuthbert Road in Agassiz, BC. Barbara married Dean Kennedy in 1941 and had a family of seven children. Sadly Dean died suddenly in 1960. Barbara married John “Adolf” Ohman in 1961 - Adolf passed away in 2001. She was predeceased by her sisters: Grace (Miller) and Joyce, and brothers: Les; Bill; Jim; Stan Bennewith. She is survived by her siblings: Frances “Frank” (Morrow); Margaret (Edmondson) and Gerald Bennewith. She will be dearly missed by her children: Bob (Bev); Bill (Marilyn); Sharon (Garth) Parberry; Gary (Shirley); Jim Ohman; Jean (Vince) Sciotti; Deana (Mike) Rebstock. Barbara had fifteen grandchildren: Darren (Lenni); Warren; Scott (Chantel); Carla; Lona (Aaron); Shannon (Harold); Shareen; Kraig (Aryn); Keith (Melanie); Shane (Alea); Jamie (Tim); Dean (Medo); Tanya; Megan; Aaron (Brent). She also had twenty great-grandchildren with one more great-grandchild on the way. Barbara attended Rosedale School during her first few years and then went to school in Agassiz when the family moved across the Fraser River. During her working years, she worked as a cook at the Agassiz Agricultural Research Station Boarding House and also cooked at the Glenwood Hospital in Agassiz. She was a talented baker, and to the delight of her family, she baked bread, buns and cookies almost every week of her life up until the last year or so. Her interests included carpet bowling and gardening as she loved flowers, she also enjoyed having Siamese cats and Maltese dogs. Over the years, as well as raising her own large family, she also looked after many foster children.
Barbara lived most of her life in Agassiz and enjoyed the rural lifestyle. Much of her life was spent on small farms where she always kept a cow and calves; chickens; ducks and sometimes a goat. She was very pleased to be an early pioneer of the area and well remembered, as a young girl, milking cows for Ruben Hogg. Barbara was proud to be a part of the large Bennewith extended family and all its relatives. No service will be held at the request of the deceased. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the BC Heart & Stroke Foundation.