Dorothy Barker Ison

With great sadness, but with the promise that those who “believe in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live,” we share our mother, Dorothy Wanda Barker Ison’s, passing at home, surrounded by family, on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. Dorothy was born Dec 21, 1940, in Burke, Elliott County, KY, the daughter of David Nelson and Blanche Faye Ison Barker, the 7th of nine children born to this union. She was preceded in death by her parents and by her siblings Allen, Granville, Glenn, Lucille, Ralph, and Richard. She is survived by brother Denzil Barker and sister Marcella Manning, both of Grayson, KY, and a large and loving host of others left to mourn her passing and miss her smiles. On June 15th, 1957, Dorothy married Samuel M “Sam” Ison in Soldier, Carter County, KY, this union lasting 68 years. Sam and Dorothy are the parents of two daughters, Samone Ratcliff, and her husband Steve, and Louise Mason, and her husband, Dan. They have 5 grandchildren, 7 great- grandchildren, and 1 great-great grandchild due in July. Mommy told us recently that she tried to teach us something every day, and we can attest that she did indeed accomplish that task. Mommy made most of our clothing. When we were children, sewing was a budget friendly way to keep replacing the clothes we either outgrew or wore out. As we grew up, she taught us to sew and indulged our efforts with trips to Piece Goods for patterns and material of our choice. She took the fabric scraps left over from sewing clothes for our family and stitched them into beautiful, warm quilts. What a wonder it was to snuggle under one and think “I had a dress made from that” or “Sissy had a blouse made from that.” I think it would please her to know how I have picked up her love of sewing and quilting and shared it with my granddaughter. She taught us to garden. Our first garden on the homeplace was in a place where the creek used to run, and so it was very rocky. Sissy’s and my first gardening job was to pick up rocks and throw them into the new creek bed where it had been rerouted. Then of course we helped to pull weeds, squish bean and potato beetles, string beans, shell peas (and eat half of them raw), and hoe weeds, which Sissy used to hate! Mommy had a knack for making a meal out of whatever was in season or in the pantry without the requirement of a trip to the store. She was an expert bread baker and made the whole house smell mouthwateringly delicious. There aren’t many smells that compare. And she made the best dressing I have ever eaten, bar none. She taught us to love learning. She read to us from the beginning that we might love reading, and we do. Both of us read before we attended school. Even before beginning her formal education, Sissy, or Louise, loved nothing better than a handwritten page of math problems, complaining loudly if Mommy happened to repeat even one. Me, not so much. She taught us so many songs and to sing along following her beautiful voice. A favorite memory is her playing the piano as she, and we, sang “Bringing in the Sheaves” - between loads of laundry in the old wringer washer. Sissy thought it was “Bringing in the Sheets.” She loved words, as does Sis, although this talent escaped me. Mommy was witty. Even as she lay near what we thought for sure was death, at the beginning of the end of this mortal journey, she would compliment the nurses with vocabulary and phrases worthy of great literature. Even until the end she kept, and used, that vocabulary! She had a great love of the woods and taught Sissy and me to love and come to know all that grows there. She taught us the names and uses of so many plants and herbs. She studied her Peterson Field Guide and delighted in finding something new, especially orchids, that she had not seen before. If while hiking she happened upon something she did not know to grow in her own woods, she might on occasion, dig a small clump to transplant. She was adept at adding little limestone gravels, pine needles, old leaves, or whatever it might need to flourish in the hills around her home, so that she could enjoy it year after year, closer to home. Each year, beginning in the spring, she started a list of all the wildflowers she would see during her daily walks. The snow would be barely gone, and spring would be nowhere in sight, as far as I was concerned, and she would announce to us, I have 75 flowers on my list so far this year! This is a true story, and it still amazes me. She had the eye of an eagle! Of all the gifts she gave us, this gift of love for all that grows around us, and the desire to see and find what there might be out there, could quite possibly be our best and favorite. We both are working to share that gift with our own children, and now, our grandchildren. And I can not leave out that she taught us faith and love of God by way of her quiet example. Personally, she encouraged me as only a mother can as I worked to find my own way toward faith in Christ, life-giving repentance, and recognition of the truths found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. She continued to build on this foundation until the end, sharing words of comfort, precious truths, inspired observations, and bits of guidance and knowledge that we can carry with us for the remainder of our lives. She was and will always be, our mother. Funeral services will be held 11:00 a.m. Saturday, April 4, 2026 at Whitt & Sons Funeral Home Chapel with Bro. Jesse McDavid officiating. Burial will follow in the Elliott County Memory Gardens. Friends may visit at the funeral home from 6:00 till 8:00 p.m. Friday, April 03, 2026 and after 10:00 a.m. Saturday until the service hour at the funeral home.

Dorothy Barker Ison

December 21, 1940 - March 31, 2026