Barbara Livonia

Barbara (Lanier) Livonia, our beloved mother, laid down her cross in exchange for her crown on April 22, 2023, after 81 years of life.

Barbara is known for her sweet, beautiful smile and kind, hearted spirit. She was gifted in art and shared her special vision of the world through her paintings. Barbara loved people from all walks of life and loved to travel and explore creation.

Barbara devoted many years raising and caring for her children. She spent endless hours pouring into them and ensuring they were raised in a Christian home, as was her priority. Her greatest mentor was her grandmother, Mimi, and she was determined to continue the legacy set before her.

Later in life as her children were grown, Barbara focused her time on education and artistic pursuits. She received her Masters in Art Education and taught art after years of sharing her love of art through her paintings, crafts, and teaching others. She won national recognition for her paintings and her home was her private museum.

Barbara loved traveling and spent time in Europe and Asia. Her love of people from all cultures and backgrounds was evident in her personal style and home. She collected artifacts representative of her love of the various cultures and had stories for each one.

Barbara resided in Arkansas with her daughter and son-in-law the final years of her earthly life but her heart was always in Southeast Missouri with family and lifelong friends. She loved the white fields of cotton and the colors of grain and always spoke fondly of the people of her church family. Like many in her generation, her family moved to industrial areas for jobs in wartime and would return to the rural areas to settle. SEMO was her home of choice.

Barbara is greatly missed but will be reunited in heaven one day with her son and daughter-in-law, Mark and Rita Clayton and grandchildren, Jacob and Maleah of Campbell, Missouri, and with her daughter and son-in-law, Sharon and Russ McKinney and grandson, Zac Hall of Marche, Arkansas. Her legacy is in the love of Christ represented in each.

Barbara’s Christian walk on this earth was greatly influenced by her grandparents, Bobba and Mimi as she called them; Aunts and Uncles, Joe and Iva Bell Lanier, Glenn and Adell Lanier, Everett and Lois Crites; cousins and close friends.

Her legacy is in her art, her love of Christ, her children, and grandchildren. She set forth a legacy of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The heavenly reunion with those who preceded her was sure to be full of hugs and kisses. Barbara was preceded in death by her sister, Patricia Lanier Murphy and her parents, W. Van and

Lorene (Hovis) Lanier, and widowed by her husband, Robert Livonia.

Visitation will begin at 6 p.m., Tuesday, April 25, 2023, at Landess Funeral Chapel in Malden, Missouri. Funeral service will be at 11 a.m., Wednesday, April 26, 2023, with Rev. Aulden LeBlanc officiating. Burial will follow in Memorial Park Cemetery in Malden, Missouri.

Landess Funeral Home and Crematory of Malden will be in charge of the arrangements.