Barbara Jean Waters Dekle

DEKLE, Barbara Jean Waters, age 89, of Montgomery, Alabama, departed this life on Sunday, March 1, 2025. She was preceded in death by her father and mother, Irby Cleveland Waters and Stella Lee Windham, her brother, Lamar Waters, and her husband, Robert Dekle.  She is survived by her children Dennis (Susan) Dekle, Pamela Dekle Twigg, and Kerry (Fran) Dekle; grandchildren Sarah (Michael) Payne, Rachel (Phil) Twigg, Joseph (JaneEllen) Dekle, and Zachary Dekle; great-grandchildren, Caroline Payne, Julianne Payne, and Roman Dekle; and many friends and acquaintances.

Barbara was born and grew up in the small farming community of McKenzie, Ala. and lived for a time in Evergreen, Ala.  She was surrounded by a large extended family with many aunts, uncles, cousins and her beloved grandparents.  She remembered her childhood and teenage years very vividly: reading everything she could get her hands on, from comic books to every single book in the school library; listening to radio dramas like “Gunsmoke” and “The Shadow,” washing clothes in a washtub with a washboard; and picking tobacco one summer to earn money to buy herself a pair of glasses.

After finishing high school, she moved to Montgomery and enlisted in Massey-Draughon, where she acquired a two-year secretarial degree.  She fondly remembered the rooming house where she lived and her old-fashioned landlady and the other young women who stayed there, some of whom became lifelong friends.  While going to school, she worked at a number of small businesses and at a synagogue.  After graduation, she became a secretary with the Swift & Co. packing plant in Montgomery where she met her future husband, Robert.

After marriage, she stayed at home to raise her three children.  She was a whiz with a sewing machine and made curtains, stuffed toys, and clothes for herself and her children.  She even had a small business making clothes and costumes at home for Montgomery debutantes for their society balls. She was good with her hands and finished and refinished many pieces of furniture, picture frames, and other things too numerous to mention.  She taught her children to read before they went to school, and inculcated a love of learning that they never lost. 

She went back to school in 1967 and graduated from Huntingdon College in 1971 with a B.A. in English Literature.  She began working at the Auburn University of Montgomery library in 1971 when the university campus was new.  She enjoyed the excitement of helping to create a university library from scratch and created the government documents department when AUM was made the second state depository in Alabama.  In the early seventies, she commuted by bus at night to Tuscaloosa after working all day and earned an M.A. in library science from the University of Alabama.

She held many positions at the AUM library, including head of public services.  She loved her job and made many close friends and earned the respect of the entire campus.  When she retired in 2002, she indulged her long-time love of gardening and books.  She never stopped learning new things.  She loved, babysat, and cherished her grandchildren and delighted in news of her great-grandchildren.

Her passing left a void in the world that can’t be filled.  Memor semper ero tui.

As we extend our deepest condolences to you and your family during this difficult time, we would also like to express our upmost gratitude to you for entrusting us with your loved one. Magnolia Cremations & Funeral Services.
 

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Barbara Jean Waters Dekle, please visit our floral store.