A rosary will be recited at 7:00 P.M. on Tuesday, February 21 at Champion Ferries Funeral Home with the Rev. Ron Stolcis officiating. Viewing and remembering Irma through pictures and her favorite poems and prose will follow the Rosary. Finger food and refreshments will be served. Mass of the Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, February 22 at Holy Name Catholic Church. A vocalist and violinist will sing and play her favorite religious music. Burial will be in the Frank H. Barbula plot in the Sheridan Municipal Cemetery.

Irma was born on March 18, 1906 in Goose Run (Athens County), Ohio to Anthony and Julianna (Nagy) Sabo. She was baptized at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Buchtel, Ohio. Her father came to Monarch to work in the coal mine and sent for his family. One of Irma’s childhood recollections was getting off the train in Monarch and asking her dad, “Why did you leave us?” Irma graduated from eighth grade at Monarch Elementary School. There were seven graduates in her 1920 class. Irma graduated from Sheridan High School in 1924. She rode the trolley to and from Monarch each weekday while attending high school. Her father built a house on North Main Street in Sheridan in the early 1920s. Her normal training [teacher preparation courses] instructor wrote in an April, 1924 letter of recommendation that “Irma is a young woman of excellent character, an outstanding student, and a very conscientious teacher.” She taught fifth and sixth grade at Carneyville Elementary School. Carneyville later became known as Kleenburn. Her first year salary was $600 annually.

She married Frank H. Barbula on June 18, 1925 in Holy Name Catholic Church. Father John Duffy officiated. A few sentences from a write-up by a newspaper staff member state “one of the prettiest weddings of the year was solemnized at Holy Name Catholic Church. A violin obbligato was played be Steve Sabo, brother of the Bride. The bride was charmingly dressed in white georgette and satin. The couple left on a two-week honeymoon to Yellowstone Park and other western states.” For four years, Frank worked at the Tongue River Trading Company (Monarch Grocery Store and Post Office). He later worked in the coal mine. The family lived in Monarch for twenty-two years. The family moved to Boulder, Colorado, back to Monarch, then to Casper. Emma and Frank moved to Sheridan in 1967. Emma enjoyed crocheting and made afghans, pillows and table doilies for her two sons and for her grandchildren. She was an excellent cook and baker. Emma loved flowers and while her husband Frank tended to the vegetable part of the garden, she grew a variety of beautiful flowers. She enjoyed playing double pinochle and cribbage with relatives Rose, Bill and Alec and with close friends Mary Mentock, Helen Barello, and Dodie Marosok. Emma was a very active member of the St. Thomas Church in Monarch. She sang in the choir and was a leader in putting together church bazaars, which were fund-raisers. Emma was a member of the Holy Name Catholic Church and the St., Agnes Altar and Rosary Society. For years she watched the Denver Broncos. She loved her family. “Families are forever,” she would say. Survivors are her two sons, Frank (Agnes) and Marvin. She had five grandchildren: Richard M. (Barbara) of California, Janette (Randy) of Billings, Kenneth E. of California, Jerry (Cindy) of Billings, and Patricia (Allen) of Sheridan. She had 12 great-grandchildren and 15 great, great grandchildren. A sister, Elizabeth Jarrett, Arvada, Colorado, a sister-in-law, Natalie Hyde, Lancaster, California, and a brother-in-law, Vern Trowbridge, Broomfield, Colorado are also survivors. She was preceded in death by her husband, Frank (April 28, 1982) and infant son John, two brothers, Steve (Marie) Sabo, Andrew Sabo and sister Julie (Vern Trowbridge. Brothers-in-law and their wives Henry and Maude, Bill and Rose, Edward and Theresa, Alec and Margaret, John, who died in 1920, and sister-in-law Katherine Moore.

Flowers would be appreciated. Emma loved flowers. She had a flower garden each summer for many years. In her house she has several silk-flower arrangements.

Dress at both services is casual.

A light lunch will be served in the Parish Hall following the Interment.