Barbara Kuhn

Barbara Kuhn, a longtime resident of Daleville, passed away on January 1, 2021. She was 89 years old.

Funeral services will be held at 3 pm on Sunday, January 3, 2021 with Rev. Randy Kuhn and Rev. Ray Layton officiating. Interment will follow in Sunset Memorial Park. The family will receive friends from 2-3 pm on Sunday at the funeral home.

Mrs. Barbara Kuhn was born Barbara Lucille Paul on August 14, 1931 in Robeson County, North Carolina. She spent most of her early years in the area in and around Laurinburg, NC and graduated from Laurinburg High School in 1950. She then worked as a bookkeeper for a successful grocery wholesale company located in Laurinburg. Soon, she met her future husband, Jimmie Grayon Kuhn, an Army 10th Special Forces soldier stationed at Fort Bragg. Jimmie and Barbara were married on October 16, 1953 and Barbara took on a new role as a military wife and fulltime homemaker. She and Jimmie traveled the world as Jimmie’s duty stations changed, residing in North Carolina, Germany (where their first child, Randall Barron, was born), Kansas, Colorado, Texas and Alabama. The couple would go on to have two more children, Virginia Kay and Vicky Lynn, and would eventually settle in Daleville, Alabama upon Jimmie’s retirement from the Army.

Once settled in Daleville, Jimmie returned to helicopter flying for the Army, this time as a civilian instructor. Flexible work hours allowed him and Barbara to also dabble in various business adventures, including construction and rentals. Barbara put her excellent bookkeeping skills to work and successfully managed the family’s business and personal finances until her advanced age and health no longer allowed it.

Throughout her life, Barbara remained the steadfast, devoted wife and mother, expertly managing the household and nurturing their children. She was a wonderful homemaker; in particular she loved baking (she had inherited her mother’s sweet tooth) and she tried her hand at all kinds of crafts. She was an expert seamstress and sewed many of the girls’ clothes when they were young. She later took art classes and learned to paint beautiful still-life scenes and landscapes.

Mrs. Kuhn loved learning and in particular was an avid reader. She made sure that all of her children were excellent readers, too, and inspired the same passion for reading in them. She was a great encourager of her children’s academic endeavors, and proudly saw all three of them earn multiple college degrees.

Mrs. Kuhn saw many happy times with her family over her life, but one of the events that gave her greatest joy was when her granddaughter, Rebekah, was born. “Mama” soon became “MeMaw” as her new granddaughter learned to talk, and Barbara would be MeMaw from that point on. Rebekah remained a beloved treasure in MeMaw’s heart for the rest of her life.

Mrs. Kuhn was a member of Bethel Baptist Church in Newton, Alabama for more than 50 years. Over that time, she served wherever she was needed, teaching Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, participating in the Women’s Missionary Union (WMU), helping with GAs (Girls in Action), and doing a myriad of other things whenever there was a need. She was an active witness for the Lord in her own neighborhood and took many young children to church at Bethel down through the years, many of whom might never have heard the Gospel otherwise.

Mrs. Kuhn was preceded in death by her parents, Samuel Holcomb Paul and Ada Jane Ammons Paul, and her siblings, Mary Kate Stevens, Eugene Paul, and Wesley Paul.

Survivors include her husband of 67 years, Jimmie Kuhn; her son, Randy (Kathy) Kuhn; her daughters, Kay (Bill) Byrd and Vicky (Rick) Ohlson; her granddaughter, Rebekah (Tyler) Deeds; and several nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that any gifts in memoriam be directed to Bethel Baptist Church (P.O. Box 100, Newton, AL 36352), Grace Assembly of God (County Road 71, Newton, AL 36352) or the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund (online at https://curealz.org/).

Robert and Toni Byrd · Sunset Memorial Park

1700 Barrington Rd, Midland City AL · (334) 983-6604