Barbara Ann Johns

Barbara “Bobbie Ann” Kunst Johns, 85, of Vidor, Texas passed away on November 22, 2021 at Baptist Hospital of Southeast Texas in Beaumont. A native of Grafton, West Virginia, she was born on August 8, 1936, to William A. and Ruth V. (Poling) Barlow.
Bobbie Ann graduated valedictorian of St. Augustine Catholic High School in Grafton. Following high school, she enrolled in St. Mary’s Hospital School of Nursing in Clarksburg, WV. and became a Registered Nurse.
In 1958, she married Robert C. Kunst who was serving in the United States Coast Guard. During the next twenty years or so, she and Bob traveled from station-to-station, as they raised four children, all born in different states. Her four children, William, Robert, Catherine, and Michael, all, at one time or another, were called “BillBobbyCathyMike!” by their mother.
With Bob’s retirement in 1969, the family moved to Vidor, Texas. In the mid-1970’s Georgetown Steel built a steel mill along the Neches River. Barbara, as those at the mill would call her, found a job at the brand-new mill, along with a second family among the men and women who worked at the mill. A proud Certified Occupational Health Nurse, Barbara retired from the then-named North Star Steel mill in 2000.
Even though life threw her a curve-ball when her husband of twenty-eight years, Bob, passed away in 1987, she never lost her joy for life or her kind heart. Bobbie Ann again found love with another Coast Guard retiree, Richard “Dick” Johns, and the couple tied the knot in October of 2000. Bobbie Ann and Dick loved to travel and enjoyed genealogy and gardening. Most of all they loved their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She is survived by her husband of twenty-one years, Richard “Dick’ Johns of Vidor; children William “Bill” Kunst and Clare Fowler of Corpus Christi, Robert F. “Bob” Kunst of Beverly Hills, California, Cathy and Mike Kennedy of Newport News, Virginia, and Mike and Jill Kunst of Orange; stepchildren Kathy and Sam Pullig of San Antonio, Richard and Gina Johns of Vidor, Kim Dyess of San Antonio, Dr. Roger Johns and Gable Stevenson of San Antonio, Ryan and Juliann Johns of Vidor; sisters Sandra Martin of Massachusetts and Mary Lou Knotts of West Virginia; fourteen grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. Bobbie Ann was preceded in death by her parents and her first husband, Robert C. Kunst.
Visitation for her will be Friday, November 26 beginning at 6 pm with a rosary at 7 pm at Memorial Funeral Home, 1750 Hwy 12, Vidor. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Saturday, November 27, 2021, at 10 am at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 1600 N. Main St., Vidor with burial to follow at Restlawn Memorial Park in Vidor. Memorial contributions may be made to the Altar Society of Our Lady of Lourdes, 1600 N. Main St., Vidor, TX 77662.