Barbara M. Arseneau Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Barbara M. Arseneau, 65, of Beaverville, Illinois, passed away on May 21st after a courageous three year battle with cancer. A life-long resident of Beaverville, she was born on June 16, 1950, the daughter of Lorraine (Dolly) and Morris Arseneau. Barbara was a graduate of Donovan High School and Marycrest Business College. In 1970, she married Daniel Arseneau. They are the parents of one son, Cameron Daniel. Barbara was a homemaker who enjoyed being a stay-at-home mother with Cameron and supporting him in his activities as he grew older. After Cam was in high school, she worked as a Patient Support Specialist for the organization that is now Presence St. Mary’s Center for Diagnostic Imaging in Bourbonnais. She retired in 2015, looking forward to traveling with Danny in their fifth wheel, working in her garden, and enjoying her sewing and other creative projects. Barbara was an active member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church. In 1983 she was named St. Mary’s Woman of the Year. Over the years, she served as an officer or a committee member of almost every parish office, including the Council of Catholic Women and the Parish Council. For more than ten years, she served as a Lector. Projects which were especially important to her were the preservation and restoration of the church, editing the St. Mary’s Preservation Newsletter and, with church colleagues, creating the annual Founder’s Day Celebration. When Barbara’s mother, Lorraine Arseneau, died in 1990, Barbara set a precedent by donating the monies which were given in her mother’s memory to the Church Restoration Fund. She is thankful that community generosity has kept “the Cathedral in the Cornfields” viable. Surviving Barbara are her husband, Dan; her son, Cameron and his fiancee, Andrea Kerouac, of Loveland, Colorado; her sister, Diane (Jim) Wiltjer of Pinehurst, NC; her aunts, Marian (Jeanne) Arseneau Barker of Shiloh, NC and Yvonne (Toots) Blanchette Martin of Denver, Colorado; her niece Laurie Manley (Pete) Conaty of Sanford, NC and eight special cousins. Survivors also include her brothers- and sisters-in-law and their families, three nieces and seven nephews: Bob (Judy) Arseneau;Wayne (JoAnne) Arseneau; Karen (Bill) Dowling; Kenneth (Linda) Arseneau; and Loretta (Steve) Moehler. Barbara was preceded in death by her parents Lorraine Blanchette Arseneau and Morris Arseneau; her brother, David Nourie, and her niece Leisa Manley Urrutia. Visitation will be held Thursday, May 26, at Baier Funeral Home from 4:00p.m. to 8:00p.m. Friends and family are invited to share photos and memories during this time. A “Memory Book” will be available. A funeral mass will be held at St. Mary’s Church in Beaverville on Friday morning, May 27, at 11:00a.m. Father Dan Belanger, C.S.V. will officiate. Burial will follow at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Beaverville, IL. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, those who wish to make a donation in Barbara’s memory may do so to the St. Mary’s Catholic Church Preservation Fund, P. O. Box 152, Beaverville, IL 60912 which she so valued, or to the Iroquois Memorial Hospice 200 N. Laird Lane, Watseka, IL 60970, which provided gentle and loving care in her final days.

Barbara M. Arseneau

June 16, 1950 - May 21, 2016