Vonda L. Barnes , 83, of Columbia City, died 10:57 p.m. Thursday, November 16, 2023, at Parkview Regional Medical Center, Fort Wayne, where she had been taken earlier that day.

Born on January 13, 1940, in Cromwell, Indiana, she was the daughter of the late Wayne and Ruth (Thunander) Knox. Growing up in Indian Village near Cromwell where her family owned a gas station and store, she graduated from Cromwell High School in 1958.

On August 28, 1964, she married Gary A. Barnes. They made their home in Fort Wayne until 1970 when they moved to rural Columbia City.

In addition to being a full-time homemaker raising the couple's four children, she worked for ten years at Dana Corporation in Churubusco, then Stumps Printing in South Whitley.  She completed her work career at Ingram Books in Fort Wayne.

In her retirement years, she delighted in a game of chance, regularly visiting the area casinos. She always enjoyed dinner out with friends or taking in a garage sale. In her younger years, she was an active bowler and took pleasure in gardening and growing flowers around her home. During the winter months, she liked to travel with her husband to the warmer regions, especially Gulf Shores, Alabama.

Surviving is her husband of 59 years, Gary; children, Jill (Timothy) Hart of Churubusco, Jonathan Jefferies of Columbia City, and Richard Jarrod Barnes of Albion; seven grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren and brother, James Knox of Larwill.

She was preceded in death by a son, Timothy Jefferies, and brothers, Ronald Knox and Roger Knox.

The funeral service is at 3 p.m. Tuesday at Smith & Sons Funeral Home, Columbia City. Burial is at the Lakeview Cemetery in Larwill. Visitation is from 1 p.m. until the service Tuesday at the funeral home.

Memorials in Vonda's honor are to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.