Barb Seager often shared that she didn’t live a perfect life, but that it was perfect for her. She had a special gift for making people feel welcomed, seen, and valued. She greeted kindergarteners, pantry guests, and church members by name, remembered what mattered to each of them, and used her witty sense of humor to make us all laugh.
She passed peacefully at home in the Mulberry Cottages on the evening of Wednesday, October 7, 2026, at age 86. She was surrounded by family, including her sisters, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Together, four generations shared love, tears, and laughter around her.
Barb was the eldest of four Mulberry girls born to Charles A. and Ruth (Bradshaw) Pierson. Living in the Mulberry area all her life, she attended Mulberry Elementary and High School and graduated in 1958 with a circle of friends who stayed close for a lifetime. They were simply known as “The Group.”
Barb met Jerry Seager in first grade, and she loved to tell the story of his elementary school prediction that “we are going to be the last ones into church and the first ones out” (his way of saying they would get married). In junior high, he gave her a box of Junior Mints, and she ate the entire box on the way home so her mother would not find out she had a boyfriend. They were high school sweethearts and went on to Ball State Teachers College together, where Barb earned a bachelor’s in elementary education. After graduation, they came home to Mulberry and were married on June 17, 1962. They were together for nearly 62 years, until Jerry’s death on March 18, 2024.
Barb began teaching kindergarten at Mulberry Elementary in the fall of 1962 at age 22, alongside Jerry and his mother. While teaching, they both took graduate courses at Purdue and Ball State, and Barb earned her master’s in elementary education in 1965. She took five years off to have and raise her children, and she was always eager to return to the classroom. When Clinton Prairie Elementary consolidated four rural township schools in 1985, she moved there and retired in 1996 after 29 years in the classroom. She would often spend afternoons and weekends making bulletin boards and lesson plans, and she especially enjoyed preparing her “Letter People” to visit her kindergarteners. The gingerbread men her students made would “disappear,” sending the class searching the school to find them. Her love and passion for teaching were passed on to her two daughters, a granddaughter, and a grandson.
In 1974, Barb and Jerry moved out to the Lecklitner-Seager farm, where Barb became part of the sixth generation of Jerry’s family to live and work on the land. She took pride in going from city girl to country girl, raising her four children on that family land. For the past 10 years, from her window at the Mulberry Cottages, she could watch her grandchildren raising her great-grandchildren on that same farm.
Barb’s family was her greatest joy, and she gathered them as often as she could. She hosted family gatherings year after year, with pizza parties and baked desserts for a table that grew from her children to grandchildren to great-grandchildren. She followed each of their lives closely and was proud of every accomplishment. For more than 20 years, she and Jerry also hosted Seager Get-Aways at different spots around Indiana and Kentucky, with exploring, golf, shopping, game nights, and always lots of food and laughter.
In 2012, Barb helped envision a larger food pantry for Madison Township. She asked each of the three Mulberry churches to join the leadership committee so that they could expand their services together, and she named the pantry “Stone Soup” after one of her favorite books that she would read to her kindergarten classes. Like the soup in the story, she believed the pantry worked because everyone added something. She worked alongside a small team of volunteers, and she raised funds, wrote grants, shopped grocery sales, and did whatever else was needed. She called the people who came through the door “her people” and greeted each one by name. She enjoyed baking her zucchini bread for them, as well as for bake sales and church events throughout the years.
Retirement did not slow her down. She soon took a rock-climbing class and acted in plays with a community theatre, and she and Jerry had more time to travel. They began traveling together early in their marriage, and over those six decades they visited all 50 states and 35 National Parks, along the way they rode trains and toured museums and landmarks. Barb loved researching and planning every trip, and their adventures reached Canada, Mexico, Panama, and many European countries. They always came home eager to tell their children and grandchildren what they had seen.
She never stopped saying yes to exploring new places. To celebrate her 85th birthday in 2025, she flew to Ireland with one of her sons for a ten-day self-guided drive past castles and small coastal villages. Earlier this summer, she took a Mediterranean cruise and talked her son, daughter-in-law, and the family group into adding days to see Barcelona and Rome too. Days before her passing, she heard from her youngest granddaughter, who was visiting Grand Teton National Park, one of Barb’s favorite places. She replied, “I know the Tetons are calling me!”
Her mother showed her that you should give back to the place where you live, and Barb took that lesson to heart. She joined Mulberry United Methodist Church at a young age and was a member all her life. She served as treasurer of United Methodist Women, sat on the Ad Council, and led the Children’s Sermon once a month. From 1995 to 2012, she served on the church preschool board, and she taught Sunday School to children ages four through fourth grade. She belonged to the Mulberry Federated Roundtable (Indiana Federation of Women’s Clubs), where she was past president, served as state Director, and was named Junior Clubwoman of the Year. She was also past president of the Mulberry Mother’s Club and a past Matron of Order of the Eastern Star #459, served as secretary of the Mulberry Library Board, and was active in the Mulberry Home Study Circle.
In 2009, the Clinton County Historical Society honored her and Jerry as Clinton County Gems, and in 2016 they were both torchbearers for Clinton County in the Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay. She loved that she got to share both honors with Jerry.
Barb is survived by her four children: Joan Seager (Jess) of Monticello, Craig Seager (Sandy) of Mulberry, Trent Seager (Chris) of Newport, Oregon, and Meg Keyton (Frank) of East Bernstadt, Kentucky; four grandchildren: Kathy Martin (Alex) and Nick Seager (Shelby), both of Mulberry, Grace Taylor (Quang) of Louisville, Kentucky, and Grant Keyton of East Bernstadt, Kentucky; four great-grandchildren: Will and Hadley Martin and Mallory and Wes Seager, all of Mulberry; and three sisters: Kay Schad (Stan) of Muncie, Linda Feeser of Granbury, Texas, and Beck Davis of Lafayette. She was preceded in death by her husband, Jerry; her infant son, Michael Kent; her parents; and many other relatives.
Services will be held at Mulberry United Methodist Church on Saturday, October 17, 2026. Visitation will be from 1:00 to 4:00 PM, followed by a memorial service from 4:00 to 4:30 PM, with Kathy Martin officiating.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that those who wish to honor Barb consider a donation to Stone Soup Food Pantry, Mulberry United Methodist Church, or Clinton Prairie School Foundation. You can learn more at her family’s memorial page. Goodwin Funeral Home is honored to assist the Seager family . Please visit goodwinfuneralhome.com where you may share a condolence with the family.