Orpha Barnes

Orpha (Sanders) Barnes, 93, passed into eternal life on Saturday, September 16, 2017 at her home. Memorial services will take place on Friday, September 29, at 2:00pm at Prescott United Methodist Church in Prescott, AZ. 

Orpha was born on February 21, 1924 in Centralia, IL to a loving family with three sons and four daughters. The Sanders family was “poor but blessed,” and Orpha shared their story in a book she authored in 2011 titled A Heritage to Remember. Orpha and several of her siblings attended Greenville College in Greenville, IL where she met her beloved husband of 32 years, Don Trowbridge. They welcomed daughters Nancy Laine of St. Petersburg, FL and Mary Meade-Olberding (Mike) of Prescott. She loved her granddaughters Melinda Meade Meyers (Patrick) and Jenna Molster (Robert) of Arlington, VA, and her grandson Ryan Olberding (Leslie) of Anchorage, AK, and was deeply proud of her family. She was especially delighted to become a great-grandmother in October 2016 when Natalie Meyers was born. 

During her long life, Orpha was the wife of an Army Chaplain and Methodist minister, a high school teacher, a poet and prolific writer on many subjects, and a receptionist for the international televangelist ministry Jack Van Impe Ministries. It was there where she met her second husband, the late Leonard Barnes of Windsor, Canada. Orpha lived in many states and also Germany, enjoying extensive travels throughout Europe. Blessed with a strong faith in God, she was a devoted Christian and was happiest singing and playing hymns on the piano, attending PUMC, and watching her favorite TV channel, TBN. 

Orpha was fiercely independent and never met a stranger. She loved her job at Jack Van Impe Ministries because it allowed her to share stories with callers from all around the globe, and she carried this gift for visiting with anyone she encountered throughout her life.  She lived on her own terms, in her own home, and had just renewed her driver’s license days before her sudden passing!  Orpha’s kind smile and keen sense of humor will be deeply missed by her family and large network of friends.


In lieu of flowers, we invite you to honor Orpha with a donation to her beloved alma mater, Greenville University at https://www.greenville.edu/giving/