Wilma Barton

Wilma M. Barton, 96, of Springfield, MO, formerly of Mt. Pleasant, IA, died Monday, December 29, 2014 in Springfield. Visitation will begin at 6:00 p.m. Friday at the Greenlawn South Funeral Home in Springfield, with a funeral service to follow at 7:00 p.m. Visitation in Mt. Pleasant will be held from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 4, 2015, at the Olson-Powell Memorial Chapel, where the family will receive friends. A funeral service will be held Monday, January 5th at 10:00 a.m. at the Memorial Chapel with Rev. Mel Brown officiating. Burial will be in the Lambirth Cemetery. She was born near Mt. Pleasant, Iowa on February 27, 1918, the fifth daughter of Clark and Amelia Zickefoose. At 14, she trusted Christ as her personal Savior. After a course at Iowa State Teachers College, she began a teaching in a one room country school. In that community she met Dale Barton and they married August 14, 1937. In 1950 Dale and Wilma dedicated their lives to be missionaries. It took a giant step of faith to exchange the secure life on the farm for their family of three girls and one boy for the uncertainty of life in a foreign country. She graduated from Baptist Bible College, Springfield, MO. in 1953 and received her Honorary Doctor of Humanities in 2005. Their family went to Brazil in 1954, learned Portuguese, and in 25 years started many churches, directed the Bible Institute and trained many pastors. Even though they had to leave Brazil in 1979 because of Dale's health, she went back numerous times to be with her missionary daughter, Janet Tomberlin and Gary and their family, and to see her old " young people ". She loved teaching young people. Wilma is survived by three daughters, Barbara Brown ( Mel ), Springfield, MO; Janet Tomberlin ( Gary ) Curitiba, Brazil; Judy Eckles, Brownwood, TX; 8 grandchildren, 18 great grandchildren and their families. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband Dale; a son Curtis; five sisters and one brother.