Submitted by: Dan Rich

South Bend Tribune 1/25/2004

Barbara J. Rich

March 12, 1934 -- Jan. 21, 2004

Barbara "Barb" Jean (Lyvers) Rich, 69, of Phoenix, Ariz., died on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2004.

She was born on March 12, 1934, in South Bend, Ind., to the late Edward Lawrence and Stella Mae (Clary) Lyvers.

She graduated from Riley High School, South Bend, in 1952. On Aug. 31, 1957, she married her current husband in St. Joseph Catholic Church, South Bend. She came with her husband to Phoenix in 1959. She was active in a business, JC Printing/Jiffy Copy, Inc., which she still was a part-owner, along with her husband and son, Tom, at the time of her death. Barb spent many years active in volunteer organizations, primarily the Phoedalian Women's Club, the Visiting Nurse Auxiliary, Our Lady of Assumption Sodality of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, and Arizona Pop Warner Football. For more than 30 years, Barb operated her own business, B-J Secretarial Services.

Her husband of 46 years, Daniel Thomas, also originally from South Bend, survives, along with sons, Ronald J. (Dena), Paul E. (Sharon) and Thomas J. (Kris); two grandchildren and a great-grandson, all of Phoenix. Also surviving are sisters, Mary Ruth Seago of South Bend, Phyllis (Lou) Toth of Mishawaka, Ind., and Dorothy Lind of Cleveland, Ohio; and a sister-in-law, Lois Livers of Franklin, Ind.

Her brother, Martin Livers, preceded her in death.

Arrangements were handled by Whitney & Murphy Arcadia Funeral Home of Phoenix, with interment at St. Francis Catholic Cemetery in Phoenix.

Private services have been held. A private memorial Mass will be held at a later date in St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, Phoenix.

The family suggests donations to The Holy Cross Association, P.O. Box K, Notre Dame, IN 46556, Attn: Fr. Herb Yost; or to St. Mary's Food Bank of Phoenix.