Obituary
You are invited to share in a celebration of Marlene Barnard (1940-2025)
Kincaid Chalet
6998 Raspberry Rod.
Anchorage, Alaska 99502
Friday August 21st 2026
5:30 PM-7:30 PM
Marlene ‘Marti’ (Gass) Barnard passed on Saturday December 6th 2025, peacefully in her sleep surrounded by family.
Marti was born May 9th 1940 in Tillamook, Oregon and raised in Cloverdale. Her family came from generations of proud dairy farmers. Marti enjoyed time at the Oregon coast where she met one of her best friends, Karen (Barker)Thee at age five. She worked as a teen at the Tillamook Cheese Factory, like most kids in the area, and possessed a zest for life and had a sense of humor that made friends where ever she went. She loved to laugh.
She attended college at the Sisters of Providence in Portland and became an Operating Room Nurse. She quickly met her husband Karl Barnard after nurses training. It was love at first sight and they married after a whirlwind romance that lasted thirty-three years.
After moving around the state of Oregon and giving birth to their first three children, Kris, Kari and Tom, the adventure really began when they moved to Alaska, in 1969, where Tim was born.
Marti and Karl took all four kids camping in a small pull behind trailer, into the wilds of Alaska before Tim could even walk. They eventually bought a cabin on Seventeen Mile Lake where the family would share some of the best moments of their lives. It was where she felt most at peace in the world. She loved Alaska, and the cabin was home. The legacy of love and family will continue at the cabin with her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.
Marti loved to dance, and when she and Karl hit the dancefloor, it was like watching Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers. They floated to the music. They could stop a room. They were magic together.
She was a proud original member of the first open heart surgery team at Providence of Anchorage, Alaska, and her nursing friends became lifelong companions. These friends and her children helped her through losing Karl to cancer when he was just fifty-seven.
Marti was also significant member of her AA community and had thirty-five years of sobriety, which she treasured. She helped countless others get through the challenges of keeping their sobriety. Her kindness and generosity of spirit spanned continents.
She spent a lifetime giving to others. Marti went on five medical missions to Guatemala and Vietnam to perform surgery with Doctors without Borders. She did several of these with her sister Jean, who is also a nurse. She volunteered weekly with her friend Ginny Senden at Food Bank of Redmond, where she landed after retirement. She lived to help others.
She left an indelible mark on everyone she met. There were no strangers in her world, and her hugs were legendary. She will be sorely missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing her.
She is preceded in death by her husband Karl D. Barnard, her parents, Mathias Gass and Agatha (Hurlimann) Gass, her siblings, Maury Gass, Leonard Gass, Anita Gass, and Roberta (Gass) Alt.
She is survived by her children, Kristine Keyes, Kari Mote, Thomas Barnard, Timothy Barnard, her sister Jean Weisensee, thirteen grandchildren and twenty-two great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers Marti would ask you to donate to your local food bank, or favorite charity, Give back. Pay it Forward.
Please join us for her celebration of life Friday August 21st in Anchorage Alaska
Kincaid Chalet
6998 Raspberry Rd Anchorage, AK 99502
5:30 PM-7:30 PM
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We teased about the revolving door at the border because many people who left came back many times.
We kept in touch over the years , always had lunch when she came back to town.I still have the e-mails about her cruise around South America.She was indeed a venturous person. You will be missed my friend.
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