Barbara J. LaGrone, age 86 of Lincoln Park died January 28, 2014. Visitation will be Thursday 12-8pm and Friday 10-11am with Services at 11am at J.L. Peters Funeral Home.3880 Fort St., Lincoln Park MI. (313-928-6500). Her life was not an easy one, but she met every adversity with strength and grace. A single mother before such was common, she provided a good life for both of her children. She also instilled in them a love of nature, music, charity and, through example, the courage to face any obstacle head on. She loved the water from the time she was a child and spent summer days at a lake with her cousins through frequent visits to Commerce Lake and Lake Oakland in adulthood to long walks or drives along the Detroit River shoreline. In later years, when dementia began to strip her identity and she suffered the accompanying frustration and fear, a long walk or drive by the river comforted and calmed her, like a soothing spiritual embrace. Fitting it was, that in a room overlooking the river, she drew her last breath. Most of all, she loved her family. She and her sister Maryon would spend hours on the phone, singing songs, old and new, laughing as each other made up lyrics if neither could remember the proper words or the tune. Her nieces and their spouses, who she adopted as nephews, brought her joy beyond measure by their visits, especially the frequent off key songfests and the infamous birthday parties every summer, which by tradition included a BLT and Saunders hot fudge cream puff. Her friend Ginny, and her brother in law Jim, also held a large place in her heart. Blest was she by others though not family through blood, were family in her heart as well. Doug and Willie, John and JoEllen were always there for her be it the need for a bit of handwork, conversation and companionship or even to share a beautiful summer sunset. And yet, her inner spirit contained the voids left behind by the deaths of her beloved son Robert, older sister Connie and her mother, Velma. Toward the end of her life, she refused to believe they were gone because she felt them around her. And they probably were. Still, she maintained her dry sense of humor, lightening the day with laughter for people both known to her and not. Doughnut shop patrons, cashiers, waitresses and medical personnel used to comment to her daughter how she lifted their spirits with a funny comeback or comment. "I love her, she is a treasure" they would often say. She will be sorely missed by those mentioned and many not named. But she is now embraced by those who passed before her, in the garden of heaven and the infinite kingdom of peace. Sign the register and express your sympathy at www.jlpetersfuneralhome.com