Barbara Ellen Thiessen Lowenthal

Funeral services for Barbara T. Lowenthal, 69, Lawrence, KS, will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, April 23, 2012, at the First Christian Church in Lawrence, KS. Burial will be in Oakley, Kansas, on April 24, 2012. She died at home on Friday, April 20. The family will receive friends Sunday, April 22, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home.

She was born on November 21, 1942, in Garden City, KS, to Peter and Tena (Brandt) Thiessen. She was graduated from Meade Bible Academy in 1960. She attended one year at Haviland Bible Junior College, Haviland, Kansas, followed by training as a hairdresser at the Vernin Beauty School in Wichita, Kansas.

She was married to Larry Eugene Isaac. Todd Jeffery was adopted in 1968 and daughter Natalie Tena was born on April 28, 1971. Barbara was a homemaker and after her divorce in 1977, she moved with the children to Kansas City where she worked as a dental assistant.

She married David Lowenthal on February 23, 1980. They made their home in Lawrence where David worked as a Certified Public Accountant. They had a part-time business taking graduation and party pictures along with three partners that engaged the entire family while the children were growing up. The part-time business was sold in 1994. Both Barbara and David turned their attention to other interests that included traveling and hunting. Barbara harvested many deer.

Over the years Barbara has hosted many foreign students driven by her interest in people and learning more about other places. She led several to know Christ and remained in touch with them. In 2002 they went to China and connected with one of the foreign students she had befriended. Their final vacation together was a tour of Egypt this last October.

Barbara’s faith has always been a key part of her life. She firmly believed in salvation through Christ and imparted the importance of this belief to her children, her husband, and would always find an opportunity to share her faith with others. She was active in a bible study group and was a member and volunteer at various churches in Lawrence.

She was diagnosed with stage IV gallbladder cancer this past January. She fought this battle with cancer with grace and dignity and complete faith in Christ. She was preceded in death by her parents and her step-mother, Zelma, who raised her after her mother died when she was four, and her brother, Norman Thiessen.

She is survived by her husband David, her children Todd Isaac, Lawrence, KS, and Natalie Isaac, Denver, CO, her mother-in-law Ruth Lowenthal, Lawrence, KS, sister-in-law Darlene Thiessen, Lawrence, KS, sister-in-law and brother-in-law Deb and Ron Teeter, Lawrence, KS, brother-in-law and sister-in-law Richard and Kathy Lowenthal, Scott City, KS, nephew Kevin Thiessen and family, Rogers, AR, and niece Tayna Luder and family, Overland Park, KS, and a host of other family members and friends.

Memorial gifts can be made to Wycliffe Bible Translators or Family Life Broadcasting System in care of Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home.