Barbara Utt Fletcher, 86, formerly of Warrensburg, died March 21, at her home in Freeport, Illinois.

Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, with funeral service at 10 a.m. Saturday, both at Sweeney-Phillips & Holdren Funeral Home. Interment will follow in Sunset Hill Cemetery.

Barbara was born on November 27, 1932 in Warrensburg, the daughter of Paul R. Utt and Viola B. (Fitterling) Utt. She was a graduate of Warrensburg High School and earned a master’s degree in music from Northwestern University of Evanston, Illinois. She was also part of a music program in the Boston School of Fine Arts. Upon graduation, she became a music professor in the University of WI-Platteville, where she met U.S. Army Engineer Harry R. Fletcher. They married on August 22, 1959. After receiving a job offer in Montgomery, Alabama, Harry and Barbara relocated there. She taught music at Auburn University at Montgomery and also sang at the Jewish Temple. She was heavily involved in the local Episcopal church, where she earned a silver medal for her choir-directing and organ-playing talents. She retired from teaching and moved to Freeport, – there, she continued her involvement in local choirs and the P.E.O. until just recently. Barbara was very talented in singing, playing the piano, violin, autoharp, and French horn. She was very generous and kind-hearted and will be dearly missed.

Survivors include her husband of 59 years, Lt. Ret’d. Harry Fletcher, of the home; son, Chris Fletcher, of Freeport; daughter, Camy Joiner, of Panama City, Florida; granddaughter, Tammy C. Fulton (husband Tom) and their two sons, Seth and Luke; cousin, Ray Fitterling (wife Shirley), of Warrensburg; and many extended family and friends in the music community.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Paul R. Utt and Viola B. Fitterling Utt; and her son-in-law, Don Joiner.