Barbara Lynn Pretty, beloved wife and mother, faithful friend, teacher, and community leader, passed away peacefully in her sleep on May 17, 2021. She had been in the Navian Hospice in Kailua for almost a week, and died of untreatable complications caused by metastatic breast cancer which she had been dealing with for the last three years.She is survived by her husband, Robert Stanfield, two sons, Daniel and Ryan Stanfield, and step-son, Dylan Stanfield, and step-daughter, Verena Kurz.
Barbara was born on October 27, 1954, and grew up in Allen Park Michigan. She attended Western Michigan University and graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in deaf education. (She later added a masters in counselling.)
She got her first teaching job in California in 1976, and came to Hawaii the next year to take a job as a classroom teacher at the Hawaii School for the Deaf and Blind. She spent over 40 years working for the Department of Education (DOE), including positions as a Resource Teacher for the Honolulu District and as an Itinerant Teacher for the Windward District. She also worked as an interpreter, was the Director for the initial two Family Learning Vacation programs in Hawaii for families of deaf children, and served for many years on the DOE's Special Education Advisory Council.
Barbara was also active in the community, volunteering and eventually serving as president of the Symphony Guild which annually held a Fun Run in Kahala which attracted hundreds of runners, raised thousands for the Symphony, and brought many runners, often for the first time, to the Symphony for a concert with tickets they got for entering the Fun Run.
Her church membership was very important to her. She grew up in the Allen Park Presbyterian Church; was a member and a Deacon in the First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu; and most recently, became a member in the Central Union Church.
She loved choral music, and sang in the First Presbyterian Church choir, the Central Union Church choir, the Honolulu Symphony Choir, and a choir of Hawaii singers led by Tim Carney which toured Austria and the Czech Republic in the summer of 2018.
She supported the Diamond Head Theater by organizing a crew to run the canteen before and at intermission of performances, was one of the officers of the Newcomers Club welcoming new residents to Honolulu, helped in numerous Hawaii Symphony Associates events, and volunteered as a docent at Washington Place and Queen Emma's Palace'.
At the center of Barbara's life was family and friends. Once Barbara made you her friend, you often were a friend for life. She kept in touch with friends she had met in elementary school, at summer camps, in college, in past jobs, and on tours and cruises. At the core of it all was that she really was interested in you, in what was going on in your life, what you were feeling, what you were dealing with. We all miss her greatly.
A celebration of Barbara's life will be held at the Central Union Church Sanctuary (1660 South Beretania Street, Honolulu, HI 96826) on June 26, 2021, beginning with a Drive-Thru Visitation from 2 pm to 2:30 pm, and services beginning at 3 pm.
For the Drive-Thru Visitation with the family, please enter from Punahou Street, cross the Great Lawn, and turn left to pass in front of the Sanctuary for the visitation with the family. Those who also wish to attend the service in the Sanctuary after the Visitation, can continue on to the parking area on the Great Lawn.
The Celebration of Life Service is open to all to attend, but it would help to insure there are adequate accommodations for all if you would register for the event at http://events.constantcontact.com/ register/event?llr=s7ypai7ab&oeidk=a07ei324d7z2cfd80d7 or contact Jane Nagel at Central Union Church (cuc@centralunionchurch.org).
For parking, please enter from Punahou Street, and follow the guidance of the parking lot volunteers on where to park. After parking, please proceed to the Sanctuary to sign in, be screened for fever, and be guided to assigned seating. Seating for the service in the Sanctuary will begin at 2 pm, be socially distanced, and will require wearing of masks.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be given to three organizations that Barbara wished to support. They include:
• Allen Park Presbyterian Church (USA), 7101 Park Avenue, Allen Park, Michigan 48101, In Memory of Barbara Pretty
• Kapiolani Health Foundation, Attn: Emily Naula, Executive Office, 1319 Punahou Street, Honolulu, HI 96826, In Honor of Barbara Pretty and Supporting the Kapiolani Women's Cancer Center
• Hawai'i Symphony Orchestra, 3610 Waialae Ave, Honolulu, HI 96816; In Memory of Barbara Pretty
