Barbara Elaine DeWitt, 91, formerly of Brookings, died June 5, 2017, in Stillwater, Minn.
Burial with a short payer service will be held at Greenwood Cemetery at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 22, with coffee at Perkins immediately afterward.
Born in Aurora on Feb. 18, 1926, Barbara graduated from Brookings High School in 1944. She married Norman Natvig in 1947, Philip Melander in 1962 and Virgil Pithan in 1976. She worked as a medical technologist at the Brookings Clinic and later at Immanuel Hospital in Mankato, Minn., before graduating with an English and secondary education degree from Mankato State College in 1967.
Barbara began her teaching career in Mason City, Iowa, in 1967. She taught English, poetry and individualized reading at Mason City High School until 1976, when she moved to Woodbury, Minn., to teach at Stillwater High School. There she taught English and reading until her retirement in 1996. That same year she changed her name back to DeWitt, the family name she loved so much. She was also extremely proud to identify herself as a Brookings native.
Barbara’s influence on family, students and peers was profound, and her joy of life and positivity flowed to everyone who met her. She surrounded herself with loving family and great friends, and she loved to socialize. But Barbara’s legacy will be one of kindness and the consistent giving of herself to help make a family member’s, a student’s or a friend’s life a little better. She is missed dearly by all who knew and loved her.
She is survived by sons Craig Forester of Laguna Beach, Calif., and Todd Melander of Minneapolis, Minn. She was preceded in death by parents John Irvin McClurg DeWitt and Jayne Matilda (McClemans) DeWitt and siblings Hazel Leona Swenning, Bette Jean Ford, Marianna McDonald, Gerald Irvin DeWitt and John DeWitt, Jr.
For more information, contact todd.melander@gmail.com.
