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Austin American-Statesman Elsie Lydia Pokorny Barton June 20, 1916 - January 8, 2001. Elsie Lydia Pokorny Barton, born in Taylor, Texas, June 20, 1916, died in Hospice Austin's Christopher House in Austin, Texas, January 8, 2001. A child of Czech farmers, she attended elementary school in Polanka and Rice's Crossing, in Williamson County, and was valedictorian of the Granger High School Class of 1934. At the University of Texas, she earned a B.A in English with honors in 1938 and completed graduate work in Library Science in I970. In 1939, she married Josef Barton, a minister in the Unity of the Brethren, and taught in a one-room school in Nelsonville in Czech and in English. She and the Reverend Barton built a truly joint ministry, first at Nelsonville (1940-59), at Taylor (1959-71), and finally in Robstown until his death in 1979. Elsie Barton directed Christian education, organized women's groups, taught in summer Bible schools, and served as lay pastor. She led the Sunday School Union and the Christian Sisters and strongly advocated women's participation in the wider religious life and in great religious movements for peace and justice. Elsie Barton maintained a journal of her and her family's life, a remarkable record of sixty years of a family's life in a changing world; wrote over 50 stories for the Houston Post; and returned to her teaching career in 1962, first as a teacher of English in Granger and Taylor High Schools, then as librarian in Taylor High and Rockport High Schools. An insatiable reader in both English and Czech from age four, and a gifted stylist from high school on, Elsie Barton trained many cohorts of high school students in the arts of reading and writing. In 1981, she moved to Austin. Even though she was soon stricken with two life-threatening illnesses, she continued to serve her church and her community. At the Austin congregation of the Unity of the Brethren, she served as a Sunday school teacher and also ably filled the role of Elder. In Austin, she served as a hospital chaplain at Seton Hospital for 10 years and carried out her longtime commitment to ecumenical service. She also passionately cultivated her private life. As the mother of three children, she profoundly shaped their young lives and their careers, creating a warm and safe haven for her children and later her grandchildren. Much of her success in meeting these limitless demands from both church and family had to do with her lifelong passion for outdoor exercise, for swimming, running, hunting, fishing, and team sports. She walked every day of her life, in the long, quick stride of her youthful years, with the aid of a walker during her sixteen years of living with polymyocitis, and in the last, halting steps in her room in St. David's Hospital. She leaves as survivors her three children and their spouses, Josef Barton and Barbara Speicher, of Chicago, Frances Barton and Dick Leverich, Mary Barton Durfor and William Durfor, all of Austin; two brothers, Alex Pokorny, of Houston and Gilbert Pokorny, of Austin; seven grandchildren, Lisa Barton Wecker, John Barton, Daniel Barton, Jubilee Barton, Jacob Leverich, Sarah Durfor, and Jonas Durfor; and two great-grandchildren, Charlie and Theo Wecker. Her family and the great company of people whom she touched as teacher, minister, chaplain, and friend, mourn her passing. Yet, we are comforted in her faith and in the memory of her joyful presence in this world. The family wishes to thank her physicians, Albert Horn, Charlie Moore, and Sue Ellen Young for years of care, and more recently her physician and friend, Teresa Lyson. We also thank her next- door neighbors, Dan, Judith, and Jim Barton, for their constant assistance, the staff of St. David's Hospital and Community Pool, the caregivers of Hospice Austin's Christopher House, and finally, we thank the many strangers for their kindnesses during her years of disability. She truly loved you. Services will be at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 13, 2001, at Taylor Brethren Church, 700 Sloan Street, Taylor, Texas (512-778-8759), with graveside services at Granger Brethren Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to Austin Brethren Church, P.O. Box 181252, Austin, TX, 78718. Condra Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Arrangements by Condra Funeral Home, Taylor. 512-352-3636. Posted by Diana Proud
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