Barbara Ann Jansen
Barbara Ann Jansen left this earth to travel onto her next adventure on September 24, 2022, after bravely living with multiple complicated health issues.
She was born on September 12, 1953 in St. Paul, Minnesota, the first of 13 children. As the oldest sibling, Barb learned how to teach and lead children, long before she went to school to become a teacher. She attended St. Peter High School, earned her B.S. in Elementary Education from Mankato State University and then went onto earn hermaster’s degree from Walden University.
Eventually Barb moved from Minnesota to South Dakota. There she would go on to adopt her only daughter Judy, who was 8 years old at the time of adoption. For all of Judy’s life, Barb made sure she was loved, safe and well taken care of.
In the mid-80’s, Barb and Judy moved from South Dakota to Rifle, Colorado, where they would call home for many years. Barb taught kindergarten at Wamsley Elementary School and enjoyed spending time with the lifelong friends she made in town.
In 1995, Barb made the decision to move to the Denver area to be closer to family. She continued her career in education by teaching teacher preparation classes for more than 15 years at Colorado Mountain College, Walden University, Community College of Aurora and University of Northern Colorado. After working for 31 years in education, she completed her teaching career in Aurora, Colorado and retired.
During retirement, she enjoyed being able to travel the world. Barb was a lifelong learner and truly enjoyed learning about the art, culture and people around the globe. Just SOME of the countries she traveled to were: Belize, Cambodia, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, England, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Galapagos, Germany, Guatemala, Holland, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and Vietnam. She also loved to frequently visit her special aunts, uncles and cousins in Mankato, Minneapolis/St. Paul, St. Peter, and Winona, Minnesota, as well as Washington DC.
Year round, she really enjoyed staying active at her indoor water aerobics class, where she made wonderful friends that she looked forward to seeing every week. During the summer, one of her favorite things to do, was have guests over for a dip in the pool at her townhouse. In the fall, you could count on her watching football games every weekend… Her two favorite NFL teams were The Denver Broncos and The Minnesota Vikings. (in that order!)
Throughout the years, Barb had many neighbors and friends at all the different places she lived, worked and visited. Those relationships were all extremely special to her and she held them very close to her heart.
Special thanks to her sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews who became Barb’s caretakers and errand runners, in the past three years. Especially her sister Peggy, who steadfastly came over to clean her house every other weekend throughout the pandemic.
Barb’s adventurous, loving, humorous and generous spirit will truly be missed by all who knew her. A celebration of her life will take place on Saturday, November 5, 2022. Her brothers and sisters would love to invite any of Barb’s family and friends to attend Barb’s Bon Voyage. Please reach out to one of Barb’s family members for further details.
Barb is preceded in death by her loving daughter Judy; her parents, Joseph and Evelyn Jansen; Sister, Anna Marie Jansen; and niece, Autumn Rose Jansen.
She is survived by 7 brothers: Richard (Bonnie) Jansen, Joe Jansen, Bill (Sharon) Jansen, Nick Jansen, Marty (Jessie) Jansen, Paul Jansen, Henry Jansen; 4 sisters: Peggy Jansen, Theresa (Alan) Jansen-Kolf, Rosanne (Bob) Fulton, and Laura (Steve) Pethick; along with 17 nieces and nephews and multiple great nieces and nephews.