Roberta Jensen Barstad

Roberta Jensen Barstad

Nov. 28, 1943 – Nov. 11, 2015

Roberta passed away peacefully November 11th after complications from a fall and a long battle with failing cardiac health.  Roberta inspired everyone around her to appreciate and enjoy every day. She was bright, articulate, happy, and full of life. She was extremely generous with what she had but more importantly, you couldn't be around her without feeling her love, admiring her intellect, and catching her contagious optimism. She sought out adventures and new experiences throughout her life.

Roberta was the second oldest of six children born to Ivan O and Marguerite C. Jensen in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Raised in Bountiful, Utah,  Roberta graduated from Bountiful High School, and continued her love of learning while receiving both a Bachelor's and a Master's Degree in Microbiology from the University of Utah. She met her husband Paul while doing research at the University of Utah and they spent the next 35 years following research jobs around the country while raising their family — living in California, Utah, Oklahoma, Maryland and Montana. Roberta contributed to biomedical research at the University of Utah, Oklahoma University and National Institute of Health that included developing new skin burn treatments, improving organ transplant success rates, studying pathogenic fungi, and developing AIDs vaccines. She finished her professional career at Nelson Laboratories in Salt Lake City in charge of the Clean Room Testing Lab.

She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and currently is a member of the Kimball Mill Ward in Bountiful.  Roberta loved the Lord and has spent a life-time serving as Relief Society President, Primary President, Relief Society and Primary teacher, and Visiting Teacher.  She always volunteered to help for Ward activities and while in Oklahoma helped to clean the stadium after University games to help support the Ward funds.

She was always eager to see new parts of the world.  Roberta collected wonderful memories of backpacking across Italy and Greece in the late 1990s, climbing Machu Picchu and cruising the Amazon in 1995, and sailed on a world cruise in 2009.   She also was passionate about and spent a great deal of the year RV camping in the scenic desert.  She captured many of those scenes in paintings and photographs.  Her favorite scenes were of the canyons of central and southern Utah.  Even in her last month of life, Roberta's experiences ranged from attending the Renaissance Faire in Gilroy, CA., to hiking the primitive roads near the Petrified logs in the Virgin, UT area. 

Roberta was a deeply devoted mother, grandmother and great grandmother. Her favorite moments included traveling in her motorhome to visit her children and grandchildren. Her devotion, combined with her microbiology education, made her the sought out family medical consultant for everything from scrapes and fevers to a burst appendix when her own children became parents. The grandchildren remember her as someone who always created new and fun experiences during visits.  The children all looked forward to her bringing her "magic" box of art supplies and spending hours with them "making art". 

She also greatly appreciated getting together with her sisters for weekly Wednesday lunches.

Roberta is survived by her husband, Dr. Paul Arlyn Barstad, and sons Nathan, Patrick, and Paul Jr, and daughters Debbie and Sarah, as well as 11 grandchildren, one great-grandchild, two brothers, Ike and Jim, and three sisters, Karen, Kathleen, and MaryAnn.

The family would especially like to thank the University of Utah hospital cardiac physicians and nursing staff for all the care and support they provided Roberta over the last 3 weeks. 

Funeral services will be held Saturday, November 21st at the Kimball Mill Ward, 650 South 200 East, Bountiful, UT.  Viewing 9:30 – 10:45 A.M. Funeral at 11:00 A.M.  She will be laid to rest at the Bountiful City Cemetery.