Barbara McCowin Barbara McCowin age 69, of Alturas, passed away peacefully in her home in the company of her sister, Miriam on April 7, 2005. She was preceded in death by her loving husband of 42 years Bert McCowin, a native of Modoc County. She is survived by her daughter, Vicki Cosgrove and her son, Jay Knudsen and her grandchildren, Taryn and Elliot Cosgrove; her brother, Lowell Rumble of Brentwood, CA and her sisters, Joyce Jacobson of Redding, CA and Miriam Gamez of Alturas, CA and beloved nephew, Sean Gamez of Las Vegas. Born on January 16, 1936, in Lusk, Wyoming to Ivan and Lenna Thomas, she was educated in Wyoming and Nebraska before settling in San Francisco, where she met and married the love of her life, Bert McCowin in November 1963. Bert and Barbara moved to Modoc County in 1974, where they resided near the McCowin family home place in Lake City, and finally to their home at California Pines. Barbara was an entrepreneur, with a music store and a paint store in Alturas while Bert operated Bert's Body Shop. She had a love of music, art and literature, and a passion for adventure and travel. A lifelong fan of Ernest Hemingway, she considered it a pilgrimage to travel to the area in the Bahamas where he sailed and fished and wrote such classics as Old Man and the Sea and Islands in the Stream. She finished her career as a bus driver with the Modoc Joint Unified School District. Barbara was a compassionate, caring and generous person. She was always the advocate for the less fortunate. She had a great love and concern for animals. Never could a stray, injured or abandoned dog or cat cross her path that she wouldn't take them in, bind their wounds, and give them a home. She was an expert at several forms of needlework, and a creative and skilled artist and craftswoman. She was also an avid gardener, tending a full flower and vegetable garden every year, since arriving in Modoc. Barbara was a lifelong member of the Catholic Church, and adhered to its teachings. She believed in the Ten Commandments and she believed in truth. She will be sorely missed, yet her spirit will live on in the hearts of all who knew and loved her. A service was held for Barbara at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Alturas, and was attended by her family and friends. According to her wishes, she will be cremated and her ashes scattered on a California coastal hilltop. ~~~~~~ Billie C. & Anita 'Jean' Reynolds Modoc County, California "The Last Frontier" www.rh2o.com/modoc --- Our outgoing mail is checked by Norton AntiVirus.