Deana D. Barrick, of Oxford, died March 3.
She was 84.
Barrick was born in Juanita, N.D. the daughter of Ora (Ground) and Charles Dean.
The family moved to Flint in 1933. She married George Barrick in 1953. She taught school in the Flint area and in New Jersey with the public schools, and at the Gym Jams Children’s Program at the YMCA. After her family relocated to Michigan she worked as a substitute teacher with the Brandon School District and later started their Head Start program.
‘We lived in the Brandon School District since 1975,? said Kirk Barrick, oldest son of Deana and George. ‘Mom loved working with kids and those that were less fortunate in the community.?
Don Patrick, former principal at Brandon Fletcher Intermediate School and Brandon District employee for 39 years, hired Barrick in 1978 to form the new Head Start program.
‘We never had a Head Start program in the Brandon School District until the late 1970s,? said Patrick, who retired from the district in 2006.
‘We were awarded funds for the program, I had to hire a teacher for the program and it was Deana. It was Deana’s kind, motherly demeanor and high level of energy that prompted me to offer her the job. She was so wonderful to those children, plus she brought a great knowledge of education to a new program,? he said.
‘We made house visits to families, we’d go to client homes for interviews’she was very compassionate. There have to be many families she touched over the years’she was an absolute jewel.?
Surviving are: husband, George; three sons, Kirk, Gregg and Dean; daughter-in-law, Penny; sister, Marion Larson, two grandsons, Jarrad and Conner. She was preceded in death by her brother, Wayne and four sisters, Marjorie, Lorna, Beverly and Dorothy.
Funeral services were set for 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Seymour Lake United Methodist Church, Pastor Deborah Line officiating, interment in Seymour Lake Cemetery.
Donations may be given to St. Jude Children’s Hospital 501 St. Jude Place Memphis, TN 38105.