Barbara Joanne Belden Hadden

Barbara J. (Belden) Hadden passed away Monday, May 13^th, 2024, with members of her family by her side.  She was eighty-four.

Barbara was preceded in death by her husband Dean J. Hadden Jr., parents Ralph and Margaret Belden, brothers Jerome, Robert, and Elmer, and sister Carol.  She is survived by six children and twelve grandchildren: Dean J. (Terri) Hadden III, grandchildren Michael and Alissa (Sam Taylor); Corinne M. (Kevin) Crumpton, grandchildren Garrett and Lara; Steven W. Hadden; David A. (Becky) Hadden, grandson Jordan; Carmen M. (Darrick) Pugh, grandchildren Jansen, Ryan, Kristen and Corinne; and Chad E. Hadden, grandchildren Brendan, Connor, and Ainsley.

Barbara was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin on May 27^th, 1939 and was a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church.  She graduated from Fall Creek High School and attended the University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse on a scholarship.  She married Dean in December 1959 and lived in St. Paul, Minnesota.  In 1968, they moved their young family to Pompano Beach, Florida, where they were members of Zion Lutheran Church.  Barbara always found time to take her children to the beach, especially that first summer.  When her children were older, she worked at Holy Cross Hospital in Ft. Lauderdale where she truly enjoyed her job maintaining the computer system and was active with Little League Baseball, writing the weekly newsletter.  Dean and Barbara purchased an old log hunting lodge in Gatlinburg, Tennessee in 1980 and turned it into the Greenbrier Restaurant.  Barbara performed every job in the restaurant from server and prep cook to hostess and bookkeeper.  She was pleased to serve her church, Our Savior Lutheran Church, as Treasurer for many years.  She enjoyed golfing, gardening, candle-making, and reading.  In 2005, Barbara retired near her daughters in Mebane, North Carolina, built a home on a golf course and joined St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.  She enjoyed sitting on her back patio listening to the birds and watching golfers play by.  Barbara’s more delightful activities in later life were computer jigsaw puzzles and teaching her grandchildren to play cribbage.

          Barbara was a loving and caring mother, a devoted wife, and the rock that held her family together.