Barbra R. Gorney

Barbra Rita Gorney, age 85, of Harbor Beach, passed away, Saturday May 3 at Blue Water Hospice Home in Marysville, Michigan. Barb was born September 29, 1939 to Ignatz and Loretta (Lemanski) Miller in Detroit, Michigan. Barb graduated elementary school from the Fillmore Country School in Huron Country and then attended Harbor Beach High School graduating in 1957 as Salutatorian of her class. Shortly after graduation, she met Richard Gorney and on June 10, 1961 they were married at St Mary’s Catholic Church in Parisville, Michigan. Barb became employed at the State Bank of Harbor Beach and the Huron County Bank until 1962. After taking a hiatus in her career to raise a family, she rejoined the banking profession in 1979 at First National Bank of Bad Axe (later called Signature Bank). In 1987, Barb was promoted to Branch Manager of First National Bank’s Harbor Beach office. In 1989, she was awarded a diploma from the American Institute of Banking in Foundations of Banking. She was promoted to Assistant Cashier in 1991, then promoted to Eastern Regional Manager for the Harbor Beach and Port Hope offices, then retiring from banking in 2001. Barb also worked for a period of time at the Harbor Beach Veterinary Service as a dog groomer and she spent a few years at H&R Block filing tax returns. In later years, Barb’s entrepreneurial spirit led her to starting a business called B & R Crafts, which included hand crafting variety of holiday items but mostly creating and selling Primitive era to Victorian era Santa Clauses, attending 15-20 craft shows per year. She also remained an avid oil based and acrylic painter attending many local painting classes constantly learning to perfect her painting passion. Barb also continued to be a co-owner and business partner of B & R Stamps with her husband as both a collector herself and a dealer. Always having a yearning to “travel the world”, Barb began her travel adventures in 1990. She traveled to Eastern Europe visiting Poland, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and traveled to many parts of Canada. In 1998, she made a second trip to Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, and this time she added Hungary and the Netherlands to her travel journal. Barb also visited Italy, Vatican City, England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland (twice), France, and China. She also traveled to all 50 of the United States of America (more than once) and visiting most of them with her husband. Barb was also an active member of her community in many service organizations, including the Harbor Beach Women’s Club where she was a member for over 50 years, since 1968. She served the club in all officer positions including president. She was instrumental in writing the book, Harbor Beach Yesterday & Today and assisted with an updated version, Harbor Beach 1837-1996, as well as chaired many other fundraising projects. Always having a great interested in history, especially Harbor Beach history, she was a member of the Our Lady of Lake Huron Centennial 1882-1982 book committee. She was Chairman of the Our Lady of Lake Huron Catholic School’s historical book, The First Sixty Years 1924-1984 and co-authored the Harbor Beach chapter of the Huron County history book, Celebrating 150 Years. Barb was a member of the Rotary Club of Harbor Beach since 1992 and served as past president, treasurer, and a Paul Harris Fellow. She was also a proud member of the Red Hat Rubies and played on several local Bridge card clubs. Barb is survived by her, children: Michael (Annette) Gorney of St. Charles, IL, Lucinda “Cindy” Brown (Kevin Foster) of Huntington, IN, Gary Gorney of Aurora, IL, 8 grandchildren, Jessica (Robert) Rivera of St. Charles, IL, Mark (Lisa) Gorney of Elburn, IL, Amanda Rapponotti of Killeen, TX, Crystal Tetik of Colorado Springs, CO, Matthew Tetik of Boise, ID, Olivia Brown of Toledo, OH, Cecilia Brown of Chicago, IL and Joseph Brown of Cincinnati, OH. 7 great grandchildren: Jacob and Evan Rivera, Kaitlyn and Azreal Rapponotti, Gavin Graf, and Layla and Lucy Gorney. She was preceded in death by husband, Richard Gorney, daughter, Cheryl Gorney, brother, Donald Miller, and her parents Ignatz and Loretta Miller. Funeral Mass for Barb will be Friday, May 9, 2025 at 11:30 am, at Our Lady of Lake Huron Catholic Church, of the Holy Name of Mary Parish, with Fr. Kevin Wojciechowski officiaitng. Burial will follow in the Our Lady of Lake Huron Church Cemetery. Visitation for Barb will be on Thursday, May 8, from 2pm-8pm at the Ramsey Funeral Home of Harbor Beach. Visitation on Friday will be at the church beginning at 10:30 am until time of Mass at 11:30 am. A Rosary Service will take place Thursday, at 7 pm at the funeral home. Memorials may be given to the Our Lady of Lake Huron Catholic School. Memories can be shared at www.RamseyFH.com.

Barbra R. Gorney

September 29, 1939 - May 3, 2025