~ April 4, 2020
Jo Ellen Barnard ’66 passed away April 4, 2020, from diastolic dysfunction and pleural effusion. A thoracentesis removed 1250 cc’s of fluid, but rapid fluid re-accumulation caused her to decline rapidly. She passed away at home under home hospice care. Her husband, Lewis Walton, was with her.
Dr. Barnard’s first love was surgery. She did her residency under the able guidance of Lyman A. Brewer III ’78-hon, a famed thoracic surgeon in Los Angeles. Having taken her elective medical school quarter in New Guinea, she loved mission service. She frequently traveled to remote South Pacific mission hospitals to provide surgical procedures otherwise unavailable there. For her efforts in establishing a walking blood bank in Tonga by blood typing much of the Tongan population, she was invited to an audience with Tonga’s king. In recognition of her contribution to the people of Western Samoa, she received a title as a chief. She also worked extensively restoring the Hiram Edson Farm in upstate New York, where all of the major doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist Church came together. Dr. Barnard passed away in ardent hope of the Advent.
(Source: Family of Dr. Barnard)
