Barbara Gerriets

Barbara (Hull) Gerriets passed away at age 89 on May 7, 2023, after a life filled with service. She was born on July 5, 1933, in Mineral Wells, Texas, to Aaron Newton Hull and Levita Elizabeth Hinson Hull. Her childhood was spent in Jacksboro, Texas, where she was baptized at First Baptist Church in 1945.

In 1953 she married Collis Warren Bryant, but sadly she was widowed just a few years later. She then got her Bachelor’s degree from North Texas State University and was a member of the Kappa Mu Epsilon honor fraternity. She began a career as a math teacher at Graham High School, where she taught from 1958-1961. In 1961 she married John Gerriets in Ogden, Utah.  She was confirmed in the Christian faith in 1962 at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Iowa City, Iowa. They lived for a few years in Iowa before moving to Emporia, Kansas, where they lived for many years. In their retirement they moved to Topeka, Kansas, and then to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Barbara was a devoted homemaker, managing the family’s budget and cooking, baking, sewing, and gardening to see to their needs - and desires. She was famous for her Christmas candies and unique “Santa cookies” that friends and neighbors loved to receive as gifts. She also sewed many clothes and even costumes for Halloween or her children’s theatrical events. In the 1980s she also found time to teach math classes part-time at Emporia State University.

While in Emporia, Barbara was a volunteer for the Friends of the Library for 11 years, primarily involved in organizing their annual used book sale - and personally buying sacks of books herself. For her tireless dedication to the organization, she was given their first annual “Super Friend” award in 1999. She also delivered Meals on Wheels for 7 years and throughout her life served in various roles at church, including teaching the Menninger Bible Class for 12 years.

Although the family enjoyed traveling and saw many parts of the U.S., she always described herself as a “homebody.” For her, home was really her base of operations as even in retirement she was actively doing good for all the people she knew - providing them with food, or letters and emails of encouragement, or just a listening ear. 

She was preceded in death by her parents, her two husbands, and her brother, Everett Hull. She is survived by her children - David Bryant of Phoenix, Arizona; Carol (Craig) Prewett of Cheyenne, Wyoming; Carl (Jill) Gerriets of Portland, Oregon; and Julie (Dave) Russ of Spring, Texas - as well as three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 10:00-11:00 on Friday, May 12, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 4776 Mountain Road, Cheyenne.  The funeral service will be at 11:00 at the church with Rev. Aaron Nitz officiating.  Burial will be at a later date in Emporia, Kansas.  In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the church.

Barbara was dearly loved and will be deeply missed until we see her again in heaven one day.  “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.  The one who believes in me will live, even though they die’” (John 11:25).