Barbara Ann Horvath

Barbara Horvath passed away on May 8, 2024. Barb was born in Elmhurst, Illinois on September 13, 1949, to Everett and Gertrude (Gerda) Missman and she spent her early years in Glen Ellyn, Illinois before moving to Bremen, Indiana in 1961. She was a Bremen High School Lion and a lasting family memory is of Barb and her sister, Susan, enthusiastically singing the Bremen fight song at many Missman family gatherings. After graduating from Western Michigan University, Barb began teaching elementary students with mild mental disabilities in Niles, Michigan. She met Mike in Niles in 1972 and they were married in Bremen on July 7, 1973. To the dismay of their parents, shortly after the wedding they moved to Austin, Texas, having neither a home nor a job awaiting them. Things worked out and Barb resumed her teaching career with the Austin Independent School District after a short, scary teaching job at the Brown Schools in San Marcos. Barb and Mike’s first daughter, Andrea, was born in Austin in August 1976. Wanting to raise children who could more deeply know extended family, Barb and Mike decided to be closer to home and moved to Bloomington in 1978. Barb and Mike welcomed a son, David, in August 1979, while Barb taught at Spencer Elementary. She then worked as a consulting teacher for the Monroe County Community School Corporation from 1980-83 while working towards her Master of Science in Education degree from Indiana University. During that time, Mike and Barb’s third child, Amanda, was born in July 1981. From 1983-85, Barb led an at-home daycare and preschool where many children and their parents benefited from the love and educational experiences she provided. Barb always loved children and expressed and demonstrated that love to any child she met until the very end. Once she closed the preschool, Barb taught for a year at West Middle School in Martinsville, IN and in 1986 returned to the MCCSC. In keeping with her varied skill set, she performed several roles in special education. She supported and helped train general education teachers to enable the inclusion of students with mild disabilities in general education classrooms. She conducted countless case conferences and was instrumental in building and improving the corporation’s services for students with moderate and severe disabilities. She demonstrated patience, grace, and empathy to case conference participants and guided and coached numerous educators to help them become even better teachers. Barb made it all look so easy, but most knew it was a very challenging job. Barb retired from the MCCSC in 2004 as she was recruited (some might say stolen) to coordinate the Eli Lilly CAPE Grant known as “Monroe County Children Matter.” Barb was able to immerse herself in some of her biggest passions: young children, literacy, parent involvement, and better educational opportunities for young children. Some of the results of the work Barb and her colleagues accomplished continue to be supported through the Community Foundation of Bloomington Monroe County. When the CAPE Grant ended, Barb finished her career at the Indiana Institute for Disability and Community, where she provided staff development and training to hundreds of teachers across the state. She guided and helped them learn how to better meet the educational needs of all the students in a classroom during a time when more and more children with disabilities were beginning to be taught in general education classrooms rather than in separate classrooms. While at the Institute, she also had the opportunity to travel to China for Save the Children and help train teachers to provide a better education for children with disabilities. She retired in 2017 after a long and impactful career that touched so many lives. Throughout her career and retirement, Barb’s giving heart also extended into the community where she served as a volunteer with Thriving Connections, the Hoosier Hills Food Bank, Interfaith Winter Shelter, and Sponsor Couples at St. Paul . A loving and proud grandmother to 6 grandchildren, Barb also had many nieces, nephews and cousins who knew her love and kindness. She loved Mike more than anything in the world through 50 years of marriage. Anyone who spent time around Barb and Mike could sense their love immediately. Barb was compassionate, giving, constantly looking for ways to help others, creative, thoughtful, and had a great laugh. Her kids remember her as their personal costume maker for so many Halloweens, an amazing cook, loving playing games around the table with family, singing and dancing in the kitchen, doing unexpected acts of kindness to make them smile (like sending care packages and creating welcome home poems to hang on their doors when they would come home to visit), taking care of everything at home with seemingly no effort, and giving great hugs. Barb and Mike were able to do a few long road trips to enjoy the beauty of the West. They were lucky enough to actually see Denali when they were on an Alaskan cruise. Barb usually drove the midnight shift on annual family spring break trips to Anna Maria Island and she very much enjoyed belting out a number of the songs from “Bat Out of Hell” by Meatloaf. She was also known for fixing tuna salad sandwiches each year for the family to eat for dinner in the big red van as they drove down to Florida. In her final years while battling Alzheimer’s and dementia, Barb was blessed to have three amazing, longtime friends. They went on weekly lunches and excursions throughout south central Indiana, always laughing and enjoying each other’s company and support. They also watched a number of movies, mostly musicals since Barb loved singing along, at Barb’s house. Our family is eternally grateful for their grace and kindness. The family is also thankful for the support for both Barb and Mike from the Alzheimer’s and Dementia Resource Service in Bloomington and the staff at Stonecroft Health Campus. Barb is preceded in death by her parents, Everett and Gertrude Missman, her brothers, Douglas and Daniel Missman and her sister and brother-in-law, Susan and Bill Johnson. She is survived by her husband, Michael Horvath; her three children and six grandchildren, Andrea (Mike) Tritinger, Eli and Dakota of St Louis, MO, David (Marissa) Horvath, Lydia and Luke of Madison, IN and Amanda (Matthew) Roberts, Carter and Tucker of Mount Pleasant, SC; her brother, Thomas (Pam) Missman; her sisters-in-law Susan Missman, Mary Missman, and Ann (Dave) Morgan; and many nieces and nephews. Services will be held in Bloomington, IN on June 15th. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 1:30 pm at St. Paul Catholic Center, followed by a celebration of life at The Mill, 642 North Madison at 4:00 pm. Allen Funeral Home and Crematory 4155 South Old State Road 37 is in charge of arrangements. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to either: Thriving Connections program with SCCAP: Checks can be mailed to 1500 W. 15th St., Bloomington, IN 47404 or donations can be made online at https://www.insccap.org/ OR Alzheimer’s and Dementia Resource Service (ADRS) with IU Health: Checks can be made out to IU Health Foundation and mailed to: ADRS, 583 S. Clarizz Blvd., Bloomington, IN 47401

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Barbara Ann Horvath

September 13, 1949 - May 8, 2024