Dody (Doris E.)(Wimer) Barnard

Dody (Doris E.)(Wimer) Barnard passed away peacefully on Sept. 28th, 2021. She was the youngest of three daughters born to Windsor and Nellie (Long) Heath on March 7, 1928 in Yakima, Wash.

Her happy childhood was spent in Yakima where she graduated from Yakima High (now Davis High) with the class of 1946. Doris married Robert Lee (Bob) Wimer in 1946 and began a loving life together. They were blessed with 3 children.

After Bob returned from military duty, they moved to the senior Wimer’s ranch where Bob began life as an orchardist. In 1953 Bob & Doris purchased their first orchard – in Selah, Wash., selling it four years later. In 1959 they moved to Prosser, Wash. where they had bought a cherry and prune orchard which they soon converted to cherries & apples. It was a total family operation with the children working hard in all phases of the operation. Doris helped the family by working thirteen years in the Prosser school lunch program.

She also became a very dedicated Red Cross volunteer, working in the blood program and was named Volunteer of the Year in 1983 for the Central Washington Region. During this time Doris became a regular blood donor and was most proud of the fact that she gave a total of 161 units of blood in the Yakima region and later in Mesa, AZ.

Doris and Bob were blessed with three wonderful children: Rodney Douglas (Candace) Wimer of Bend, Ore., Kenneth Lee (Laurie) Wimer of Troy, Mont., and Rhonda Lynn (Tom) Root of Grandview, Wash.

Having sold the Prosser orchard in 1974, Bob & Doris moved back to Selah. After Bob’s retirement from Pacific Fruit Company in 1988 they began spending winters in Mesa, AZ. By 1994 they had decided to make Mesa their permanent home where they enjoyed a very active and happy retirement. Bob was killed in a tragic accident in 1996 and Doris vowed to continue life enjoying her friends and spending her summers with family in the Northwest. She also traveled to Hong Kong, toured the fall colors on the East Coast with her Selah lady friends, and toured The Holy Lands.

All that changed in April 1999 when a very special gentleman and occasional Bridge partner in a nearby senior community asked her for a date. With his charm, Berne Barnard quickly won her heart and the two were married in a garden ceremony at the home of his daughter, Julie, in Pasco, Wash. Doris always said that she was blessed with two wonderful husbands, a loving family, and the bonus of Berne’s loving family.

Doris is survived by her loving husband of 22 years, Berne; her 3 wonderful children and their very special spouses, 6 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, 4 nieces and 4 nephews. In addition, surviving her are her loving stepfamily of Berne’s; Cheryl & Mick August of Medford, Ore., daughter-in-law Paula Barnard of Arlington, Wash., Julie & Rod Powell of Pasco, Wash., Berne’s 6 grandchildren and his 7 great-grandchildren.

Doris was preceded in death not only by her first husband, Bob, but also their infant daughter, Linda Lee Wimer, her parents Windsor and Nellie Heath, and by her two sisters Margaret Heath Abbott and Ellen Heath McNamara. Doris always has said that she was forever thankful to have been blessed with a wonderful and happy life.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to her favorite charity, American Red Cross and sent in care of Brookside Funeral Home (PO Box 1267, Moxee, WA 98936) who is caring for the family.

Services will be held at Brookside Funeral Home (500 W. Propsect, Moxee, WA 98936) at 11:00AM on Mon., Oct. 11, 2021. Catered Reception immediately following with Graveside Services at Terrace Heights Memorial Park at 1:30PM.