.gif)
Bobette “Bobbie” (Senf) Barten, a beautiful woman with a heart of gold, a smile to remember, and loved by many.
On the morning of Nov. 28, 2023, Bobette passed away after a brief battle with cancer at her home in Columbus, Texas. Bobette was 83 years old.
Bobette was born at the Caney Valley Hospital in the town of Wharton in Wharton County, Texas at 3:44 a.m. on Jan. 6, 1940. She was the firstborn child of her father, Robert Vineyard Senf, Sr., and the second born child of her mother, Elizabeth (Matthews) Senf.
Bobette lived and attended school in many Texas towns throughout her childhood including Orchard, Rosenberg, Damon, Orange, Boling, and Iago, because her father worked for an oil drilling company.
Beginning in the 6th grade, Bobette attended school in Boling, Texas and graduated from Boling High School in 1958. Some of her childhood favorite pastimes were roller skating, watching Roy Rogers western movies, and spending time with her family and friends. She was a very likeable person and as her friends from her school days would say, “She was everyone’s sweetheart.” She was awarded Homecoming Queen, Football Sweetheart, and Class Favorite her senior year in high school along with the DAR Good Citizen award.
After her high school graduation, Bobette attended Wharton County Junior College where she earned an Associate of Arts business degree in 1960. She was also a ‘Starlette’ on the WCJC drill team and captain her sophomore year. After graduating, she moved to Houston, Texas, for her first job as a secretary for Texas Eastern Gas Transmission Corporation, followed by a second secretarial job for Dow Chemical.
Bobette met her future husband, John Edwin Barten, who worked as a salesman at the time, while living in Houston through some mutual friends. They married six months later on Aug. 3, 1963, at the New Gulf Country Club in New Gulf, Texas. They moved from Houston to John’s childhood town of Columbus in Colorado County, Texas, in 1966, where she enjoyed life as a homemaker and devoted wife, mother, and grandmother.
Bobette was a very creative person. She enjoyed cooking and sewing throughout her life. Later in her forties, she began the hobby of making porcelain dolls from start to finish and dressed the dolls in the intricate clothing that she sewed.
Bobette was a faithful Christian and a member of the Katy Church of Christ in Katy, Texas. She was baptized into Christ at the age of nine at the church of Christ in Damon, Texas. She taught children’s Bible Sunday school classes at the Milam Street Church of Christ when her children were young. Her strong faith inspired her five children and husband to be baptized into Christ and become members of the church of Christ. Her faith would sustain her after the difficult loss of her youngest son, Rhett, in June of 2004 and during the caring for her husband when he became ill until his death in 2010.
Bobette, in her own words, would always say, “I’ve always tried to pattern my life after my sweet, kind-hearted, loving Christian mother, who taught me to trust in the Lord, be forgiving, and always look for the good in people. I felt like that was good advice.”
Bobette was preceded in death by her husband, John Edwin Barten; son, Rhett Blayne Barten; brother, Robert Vineyard Senf, Jr.; mother, Elizabeth (Matthews) Senf; and father, Robert Vineyard Senf, Sr.
Bobette is survived by her children, Derek Shane Barten (wife Amber); Kari Delaine (Barten) Moeller (husband Dan); John Brandon Barten (wife Jennifer); Darcy Todd Barten (wife Morgan); grandchildren, McKenzie, Miranda, and Madalyn Moeller; Blayne Barten; Teddy, Charlie, and Lily Barten; and sister, Billie Jean Clendennen; sister, Elaine Rolf (husband L.J.); sister, Jaquelyn “Jackie” Hodge; brother, Richard Senf; sister, Jeri Lynn Simons.
A private family graveside service was held on Nov. 29, 2023, at the Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery in Columbus, Texas. The service was officiated by Jordan Moore, minister for the Katy church of Christ under the direction of Henneke Funeral Home in Columbus, Texas.
In Bobette’s memory and her love for children, memorials may be given to Tipton Children’s Home, P.O. Box 370, Tipton, OK, 73570-9989.
A special thanks to Bobette’s friends, caregivers, Fairmont Hospice, the Katy church of Christ, and Henneke Funeral Home for their love and support.
Online condolences may be given at www.hennekefuneralhome.com.
