Ex-Eastview teacher devoted to early education

Two years ago, Barb Hinkle said goodbye to her friends and family before heading to a downstate nursing home where she could receive better treatment for her Alzheimer's disease.

Once there, Hinkle, who in her late 50s was younger than most of the home's residents, made new friends, endearing herself to the staff and patients at the Carlinville home with her kindness and energy.

"She became like the angel of the home," said husband Jim Hinkle, boys basketball coach at Jacobs High School. "She would just flit around there and hug everyone and pat everyone on the face. She just gained another family."

Hinkle, who taught kindergarten in Community Unit District 300 for more than 30 years - mainly at Eastview Elementary School in Algonquin, died May 8 at the nursing home of complications stemming from Alzheimer's. She was 58.

Jim and Barb Hinkle first met when Barb was a student in Jim's English class at Southwestern High School in downstate Illinois.

After Barb graduated, Jim, who was 10 years older, asked her out on a date - but first had to ask permission from Barb's parents.

"I think I asked her out about five minutes after she graduated," Hinkle recalls. "They let us go out but they made us take her little sister with her."

After graduation, Barb was named Ms. Macoupin County. She considered entering the Ms. Illinois pageant but decided to marry Jim instead.

"She told me she'd rather be Mrs. Hinkle than Ms. Illinois," Jim said.

Barb had a passion for children and took just two years to earn her teaching certificate, devoting the rest of her life to getting 5-year-olds off on the right foot.

"She knew it was a traumatic time, and she wanted them to get off to a good start," Jim said. "That's where she thought she could have the most impact."

Besides her husband, Barb is survived by her sons, Bryan and Brad; her mother, Dorothy Lee; her brother, Gary Lee; and her sister, Carol Brand.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Congregational Church of Algonquin, 109 Washington St. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the Alzheimer's Association, Greater Illinois Chapter, 8340 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Suite 800, Chicago, Ill. 60631.