Barbara Jean (Mullen) Gunderman

Barbara Jean (Mullen) Gunderman passed away May 3rd, 2022, fully immersed in actively living to the end, in a final home she loved in Shawnee, KS.

Born April 28th, 1940 in Kansas City, KS, Barbara lived a full life, dedicated to family, education and service.  As a teacher by trade and by heart, her path included graduating from Bishop Ward High School in 1958 and a Masters of Education from KU in the early 60’s; after several years as a math teacher at Roesland Elementary in Roeland Park, she then stayed home to raise 5 children for a few decades.  When she returned to work in the 1990’s, Barbara began working with children with visual impairments in the Shawnee Mission School District, eventually transitioning to a lead teacher at the Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired in Kansas City, MO.  After a full and accomplished career, which included completing certifications in her 50’s in both Visual Impairment and Braille, Barbara retired in 2010 after several years with CCVI.

In addition to a career and full household, Barbara had impressive athletic and literary prowess, including winning a Ping Pong tournament in KCK as a child, impressively controlled shots for decades in both golf and tennis, hiking to the TOP of Pike’s Peak in 2000, as well as training for and successfully running in the CCVI Trolley Run in her first years of retirement.  Her dedication to walking outdoors never wavered.  At all times, she was working her way through multiple books from the Johnson County Library, forever open to learning different paths to living beautifully and with simplicity.

Her blessed 82 years were sustained by service to others, including in retirement where she could be found cleaning the pews of St Ann’s in Prairie Village, assisting the CCVI library and like clockwork, fixing platters of Au Gratin potatoes for shelters.

Barbara is preceded in death by her parents, Dr. Clifford and Catherine Mullen Sr. and brother Dr. Clifford Mullen Jr and husband of 30 years Bill Gunderman.  She is survived by her brother, Monsignor Michael Mullen of Shawnee, KS, children Dave (Libby) Gunderman of Lenexa, Will (Kristin) Land of Oakland, Paul (Cari) Gunderman of Prairie Village, Beth (Tony) Flores of Lenexa and Steve Gunderman of Santa Barbara.  Amongst all her accomplishments, her most proud by far is her grandchildren:  Anna, Natalia, Meg, Addison, Gabriela, Brandon, Maddox and Scarlett:  Grammy loves you deeply and never missed a single detail of your active lives – keep on pursuing your passions with love and humility as your guides!  From her journal entitled ‘Gram’s Prayers, Meditations, Thoughts’:

The fruit of Silence is Prayer

The fruit of Prayer is Faith

The fruit of Faith is Love

The fruit of Love is Service

The fruit of Service is PEACE

-Mother Teresa

Memorial Mass will be 10:00 a.m., Saturday, June 11, 2022, at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Shawnee, Kansas.

The family suggests memorial contributions to:

CCVI (CCVI.org)

3101 Main St

Kansas City, MO 64111

Harvesters (Harvesters.org)

3801 Topping Ave

Kansas City, MO 64129

Johnson County Library Foundation (jocolibraryfoundation.org)

PO Box 2933

Shawnee Mission, KS 66201