Mrs. Sandra Linda (Bruske) Barker of Newport, Arkansas, departed this life on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, at the age of 80. She was born on May 20, 1945, in Lake Worth, Florida, the daughter of Elmer Ervin and Margaret Helen (Schreiber) Bruske.
After graduating high school, Mrs. Barker attended Arkansas State University and obtained her associate’s degree. She began working as a Correctional Officer at the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Mrs. Barker then began working as the Records Clerk, until her retirement in 2011. Mrs. Barker was of the Pentecostal belief.
Mrs. Barker was a wonderful seamstress, and she enjoyed sewing, crafting, and quilting. She also loved being outdoors and fishing.
Mrs. Barker is preceded in death by her husband of thirty-three years, Calvin David Barker; three brothers, Michael Eugene Cappitonoff, David Leroy Cappitonoff, and Richard Grulkowski; two sisters, Loretta Raby and Marie Antonette Grulkowski; and her parents.
She is survived by her son, Curtis R. Johnson, of Oskaloosa, Kansas; four step-daughters, Kathy Odom and husband, Mike, of Diaz, Karen Metzger and husband, Wayne, of Newport, Lorrie Murphree and husband, Floyd, of Sulphur Rock, and Christy Beshears and husband, David, of Tuckerman; eight grandchildren; many great and great-great-grandchildren; two sisters-in-law, Dovie Howard of Midway and Minnie Moore and husband, Bobby, of Newport; and a host of nieces and nephews.
Services for Mrs. Barker will be held at 11:00 a.m. Friday, June 27, 2025, at Jackson’s Funeral Home Chapel, with Bro. Rick Womack officiating. Interment will be in White Lake Cemetery. Friends may visit at the funeral home Friday morning, beginning at 9:30 a.m. until service time.
Those honored to serve as pallbearers will be Mrs. Barker’s family. Honorary pallbearers are Larry Vest, Marjorie Campbell, Knighton Starnes, and Janice Stroud.
