Barbara K. Garretson

Mrs. Barbara Ann Keller Garretson, 93, of Bendersville and Gettysburg, PA, passed away peacefully on December 8, 2022, surrounded by family. Born November 24, 1929, in Bendersville, she was a daughter of the late Leslie Harry Keller and Katherine Toner Keller. Her husband of 65 years, Harold Ryland Garretson, preceded her in death on November 24, 2021.

Barbara was the youngest of three sisters and in her early years she referred to by her exasperated mother as “Little Miss Run, Buck, Ram, and Shove”. She went to the two-room elementary school house in Bendersville, followed by Biglerville High School, where she was a 1947 graduate. Barbara then attended Penn State University and graduated in 1951 with a degree in Arts Education and a minor in Fine Arts. She took additional education credits at the University of Colorado Boulder.

After graduation from Penn State, Barbara taught art in the Upper Adams School District from 1951-1956, for 5 years. Throughout her life Barbara was always flattered when someone who had been in one of her art classes would tell her how much they had enjoyed her class. In 1956, Barbara married Harold, who had also grown up in Bendersville, and together they raised six children. She was a homemaker and was bookkeeper for their family fruit farm business. She was a School Board member for ten years, from 1984-1994, when the current Elementary School in Biglerville was built. As a past art teacher, Barbara was keenly aware of esthetic details, especially colors, and was thankful the elementary school building committee took her advice and selected a red roof for the building rather than the originally planned green roof, as “the color looks better against the hills in the background”. Barbara’s other community activities included The Biglerville Garden Club, The Homemakers Association of Butler Township, and volunteer work with 4H, Girls Scouts, Bendersville Fire Company and Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Bendersville.

Barbara was always young at heart. Her family teased her that she was 93 going on 19. She enjoyed living in Adams County, always saying how lucky she was to live in such a beautiful area. She worked hard to support her husband and family, who knew her as unfailingly kind and caring, a good conversationalist with a crystal clear memory, and always able to trace the genealogy of local acquaintances back at least three generations.

Barbara is survived by her six children who will miss her greatly, Daniel Garretson and his wife, Cathy of Biglerville, Angela Perkinson and her husband, Harry of Dallastown, PA, Thomas Garretson and his wife, Susan of Boiling Spring, PA, Leslie Baust of Aspers, PA, Bruce Garretson and his wife, Susan of Dillsburg, PA and Jennie Gordon and her husband, Lee of Little Rock, AR; 12 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren. In addition to her husband and parents, Barbara was preceded in death by two sisters, Katherine Elizabeth Keller and Joyce Louise Keller Jones.

Professional Services have been entrusted to the Dugan Funeral Home, Inc., Bendersville. Family will receive friends for a Public Viewing on Saturday, December 17, 2022 at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 126 Church Street, Bendersville, PA 17306, from 10:00–11:00 AM. Funeral Services will start at 11:00 AM with Reverend Susan E. Scott officiating. Burial will follow with a procession to the Bendersville Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that memorial contributions in Barbara’s honor be made to the American Heart Association, 4250 Crums Mille Road, Suite 100, Harrisburg, PA 17112 or to the Adams County SPCA, 11 Goldenville Road, Gettysburg, PA 17325.