Omaha native was teacher, culinary artist

Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Barbara Hutfless, whose 59 years of religious life involved nourishing both bodies and minds, died Aug. 6 at St. Dominic Villa in Hazel Green, Wisconsin. Her religious name was Sister Richaria. She was 79.

A funeral Mass was held Aug. 14 at the Dominican motherhouse in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin, with burial in the motherhouse cemetery.

 Born in Omaha in 1941, Sister Barbara made her first religious profession in 1961, and her perpetual profession in 1966.

She served as a culinary artist for 13 years at the order’s convents in Sinsinawa, Minneapolis and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and as a teacher’s aide in Minneapolis for two years before beginning a 29-year ministry of teaching. 

Her teaching career included Catholic schools in Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Illinois and Colorado. She retired in 2008.

Sister Barbara was preceded in death by her parents, Richard and Phyllis (Hurley) Hutfless, and a brother, Dennis Hutfless. She is survived by a sister, Patricia DeMare; a brother, Richard Hutfless; nieces; nephews; and the Dominican Sisters.

Memorials may be made to the Sinsinawa Dominicans, 585 County Road Z, Sinsinawa, WI, 53824-9701 or at www.sinsinawa.org/donate online.