Barbara (Porter)
Steenhof Stuart

Barbara (Porter) Steenhof Stuart 1922 – 2022 MURPHY, Idaho – Barbara (Porter) Steenhof Stuart died on Oct. 20, 2022, at her home in Murphy, Idaho, just a month before she would have turned 100. Barbara was a resident of Illinois, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, and finally Idaho. Born in Oak Park, Ill. on Nov. 21, 1922, she was a graduate of Oak Park High School and Rockford College. She had a career as a copywriter for a Chicago, Ill. advertising agency, and she spent her entire life as a dedicated volunteer, supporting many worthy causes and actively working on numerous environmental and community projects through the years. During World War II she volunteered for the Red Cross and at the veteran’s hospital. She and her family moved to Colorado in 1968. As a founding member of the Denver Zoo Associates, she worked as a docent and was the editor of the Zoo magazine for eight years. She fulfilled her lifelong dream of traveling to Africa in both 1968 and 1971. Barbara lived in Princeville on Kauai, Hawaii from 1979 until 2014. She was a member of the first board of the Kilauea Point Natural History Association and worked with Refuge manager, Dan Moriarty in forming the volunteer program at the Refuge. She was a wildlife interpreter at the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge for 30 years and served as the Audubon Christmas Bird Count compiler for 19 years. She was an active member of Christ Memorial Episcopal Church in Kilauea. She married Robert Stuart on Kauai in 1986 and they spent the next 29 years of their lives dividing their time between Mere Point in Brunswick and Princeville on Kauai. She loved her summers spent in their cottage on Maquoit Bay. She spent her last seven and a half years living in Murphy, Idaho with her daughter, Karen. During that time, she formed many close friendships with several people in Murphy, Idaho. She participated in Owyhee County Museum activities and the Murphy book club. She enjoyed seeing antelope and wild horses from her window as well as other wildlife in the yard (including two young cougars on one day!) She is survived by her beloved daughter, Karen Steenhof of Murphy, Idaho. Also surviving are three stepchildren, Robert Stuart, Jr. of Trenton, Gail Stuart of Brunswick, and Nancy Stuart Reid of Montpelier, Vt.; eight step-grandchildren; six step-great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents Clarence Watson Porter and Sarah Gaylord (Morse) Porter; her brother, Ralph Porter; and three husbands, Danny Holenshade in 1944, Norman Steenhof in 1984 and Robert Stuart in 2015. Contributions in her name can be made to the Owyhee County Historical Society 17085 Basey St. Murphy, ID 83650 or a charity of your choice