Barbara Johnstone

Barbara Ann Johnstone, 78, of Temple, Texas, passed away peacefully surrounded by family at 5pm, on November 29th, 2025 at Baylor Scott and White Medical Center. A celebration of life will take place at 12pm to 1pm Wednesday 12/03/2025 at Crotty Funeral Home in Belton Texas. She will then be laid to rest at Bellwood Memorial Park Cemetery at 2pm the same day.

Barbara Ann Rosell was born on a clear cool summer day to Betty Guill and Karl Rosell at Sewell Hospital in Belton Texas on the evening of May 14th, 1947. At her time of passing it was a cool fall day with a beautiful clear sunset right outside her room window; the type of sunset where you know you're in Texas.

Barbara grew up in Temple, Texas with her younger brother Karl Bruce, of which I have heard many stories of their childhood shenanigans. Barbara grew up in a time when you had to absorb books or go outside and remedy your boredom in more constructive ways than having a tablet or a phone. Which I can only assume led to a lot of the curiosity she had later in life.

Starting at Temple Junior College before attending University of Texas in Austin (Go Longhorns!), Barbara graduated in ‘69, double majoring with a B.A. in French and English. During her time at TJC, Barbara met Keith Johnstone whom she would later marry and in the future have 2 boys. Barbara got her Masters in Education at Sul Ross while teaching in Dilley Texas. As a teacher for the Gifted and Talented program for the majority of the 40 years she taught, Barbara imparted a vast amount of knowledge to an untold amount of students who came through Dilley Elementary with some of her favorite areas of study. The most prominent of those being geology, the pyramids, and mythology of ancient Egypt. Even though she retired in 2011, I doubt you can go many places in Dilley and not have someone recognize the name Barbara Johnstone.

Barbara became 'mom' to me, Harry (38 yrs), in late December 1986. As one of her surviving sons, I currently live and work in Fairbanks Alaska. I try to make my way back to Texas at least once or twice a year, usually during the -40 degree winters to make sure I see friends and family and fill up on Texas bbq and Mexican food which is scarcely if at all found in the last frontier.

My older brother by 7 years, Aaron, is 46 and lives in Temple Texas with his wife Aileen. They have three children, Eve (19), Miri (17), and Asher (13). Aaron is part owner of Lighthouse IT which provides IT services for businesses in central Texas. Aaron and Aileen married in 2001, have lived in the Bell county area for 20+ years and have fostered some awesome friendships in their community which have been an amazing help for our family during this time.

Mom was a generous person and liked to find many different ways to donate and support different causes. The charity Nature Conservancy (https://preserve.nature.org) is one mom often gave to, so in lieu of flowers we know she would appreciate anything given.

There is so much more that could be written and deserves to be written of Barbara. She lived a life full of curiosity, fostered deep friendships, and only made me wish that she could have been here just a bit longer to spend extra time with her.