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Barbara Ann CORK
1940 - 2015 (75 years)-
Name Barbara Ann CORK Birth 13 Jul 1940 Lincoln, Lancaster County, NE 
Gender Female Adopted Aft 13 Jul 1940 NE Name Pia KRAUS Death 14 Aug 2015 San Javier Hospital, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México Notes - (1) Barbara CORK was a birth child of Clifford Nolan DURST and Gertrude Emilie KRAUSS, and was an adopted child of Walter Stewart CORK and Ruth Elizabeth SHAW. Barbara was reportedly Jewish by birth (see Note 16 below), but the compiler has found no evidence that either of her birth parents was Jewish.
(2) Following are excerpts from selected articles which appeared in the Sidney Telegraph (now the Sidney Sun-Telegraph), Sidney, NE, and which mentioned Barbara CORK:
Friday, June 8, 1956:
5:30 p.m. The Senior Westminster Fellowship will meet at the church. Bonnie Brown will lead the worship period. Mike Frost will be in charge of the program and Barbara Cork will provide the refreshments. Our young people, home from College, are welcomed back into the fellowship group for the summer.
* * *
Friday , March 22, 1957:
Barbara Cork has been an honor student during her high school years and is also a band member. She plays flute in the concert band and drums in the marching band. She served as governor of her class as a freshman, and is a member of Masque and Gavel, a dramatics organization.
* * *
Wednesday, April 2, 1958:
Barbara Cork
Barbara is a senior at high school and another five-foot eight-inch candidate [in the Miss Fort Sidney Pageant]. A brunette with green eyes, she will give a piano solo as her talent presentation.
She is a member of the National Honor Society, a candidate for the Rotary Outstanding Student Award, a varsity cheerleader, and alternate for Regents scholarship, an alternate for Girl's State and participated in the all-state Fine Arts Course at the University of Nebraska.
Barbara is a member of Masque and Gavel, band, and Jobs Daughters, and triple trio. Her hobbies are dramatics, reading, horseback riding and music.
She plans to attend Monmouth College after graduation.
Barbara is sponsored by Sidney Flooring and Supply.
* * *
Wednesday, September 17, 1958:
Returning Tuesday evening from Monmouth, Ill., were Mt. and Mrs. Walter Cork and Dennis, who had taken their daughter and sister, Barbara, there to enroll for her freshman year at Monmouth College.
* * *
Monday, November 10, 1958:
Barbara Cork, a freshman student at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Ill., has been chosen as a member of the college choir. Monthly vespere services and various special programs throughout the year are included in the organization's activities. A tour is made each spring when the choir appears at high schools and churches in several states. Barbara is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter S. Cork, of Sidney.
* * *
Wednesday, December 31, 1958:
Mike Frost, a former Sidneyite and now student at the School of Mines at Golden, Colo., spent Christmas week in Sidney visiting friends.
Miss Esther Shaw returned to her home at Rawlins, Wyo., yesterday after spending the past week with her sister and family, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Cork, Barbara and Dennis. Barbara will leave Saturday to resume her studies at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Ill.
* * *
Friday, February 6, 1959:
Barbara Cork, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Watler [sic] Cork, has transferred from Monmouth College at Monmouth, Ill., to the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she is majoring in speech.
* * *
Monday, March 23, 1959
Barbara Cork, a student at the University of Colorado in Boulder, is spending the Spring vacation with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Cork.
* * *
Monday, February 23, 1959:
Barbara Cork Named For Magazine Board
Barbata Cork, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Cork, and a student at the University of Colorado, has been chosen as a memer [sic] of Mademoiselle's 1959 national college board. She competed with 783 other students throughout the country for a seat on the board.
As a member of the board, Miss Cork will represent her campus and report to Mademoiselle on college life and the college scene. She will complete two assignments in competition for one of 20 guest editorships to be awarded by the magazine at the end of May.
Guest editors will go to New York for four weeks in June to help write, edit and illustrate Mademoiselle's 1959 August college issue.
* * *
Monday, March 23, 1959:
Barbara Cork, a student at the University of Colorado in Boulder, is spending the Spring vacation with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Cork.
* * *
June 15, 1959:
Barbara Cork left Friday for Boulder where she will attend summer sessions at Colorado University.
* * *
Friday, September 4, 1959:
Miss Barbara Cork, who has been attending summer sessions at the University of Colorado in Boulder, is spending a two-week vacation here with her parents, Mr iuid Mrs. Waiter Cork. She will return for the fall term at Boulder, where she is majoring in journalism.
* * *
Wednesday, September 16, 1959:
Mr. and Mrs. Walter Cork and Barbara left this morning for Boulder, where Barbara entered the University of Colorado as a sophomore, majoring in journalism.
* * *
October 30, 1959:
Jerry Johnson, accompanied by Miss Barbara Cork and Miss Gayle Gebhardt, of South Bend, Ind., drove to Sidney Saturday evening from Boulder, where all are attending the University of Colorado. Jerry came home to go hunting with his father, Ward Johnson, and returned to school Sunday evening. The girls visited in the Walter Cork home and flew back to Boulder Monday.
* * *
Monday, December 28, 1959:
Miss Esther Shaw, a teacher in Rawlins, Wyo., is spending the vacation among her many friends and is a houseguest of her sister and family, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Cork. Christmas guests in the Cork home also included their daughter, Barbara, who is majoring in journalism at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She left today for Denver to spend three days with a friend in study and research for some required essays in geology.
* * *
Wednesday, May 18, 1960:
Barbara Cork, who is working as secretary for a Denver construction company, was a Saturday overnight guest of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Cork. On Sunday Mr. and Mrs. Cork and Dennis returned Barbara to Denver.
* * *
Monday, April 3, 1961:
Guests of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Cork for the weekend were their daughter, Barbara, who is assistant to the Denver Post Sunday editor, and their son, Dennis, a student at Curtis Ag High School in Curtis, Neb.
* * *
Friday, February 16, 1962:
Barbara Cork Is Chosen Magazine '62 Board Member
Barbara Cork, a senior at Monmouth College, Monmouth, Ill., and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Cork, of Sidney, has been chosen to be a member of Mademoiselle magazine's 1962 national College Board. She is one of 805 students at 335 colleges who will report to Mademoiselle this year on the college scene.
As a College Board member, she will complete an assignment that will show her interests and abilities in writing, editing, fashion, advertising or art, in competition for twenty Guest Editorships to be awarded by the magazine at the end of the year.
The winning Guest Editors will be brought to New York tor four weeks next June to help edit, write and illustrate Mademoiselle's 1962 August College issue. They will receive travel expenses and a salary.
While they are in New York, the Guest Editors will interview outstanding men and women in their chosen fields to help clarify their career aims. The will also visit fashion shorerooms and advertising agencies, and will be guests of honor at Mademoiselle's mammoth College Fashion Show in the Waldorf Astoria and at parties that the magazine in planning for them.
* * *
Monday, December 24, 1962:
A family Christmas celebration will be held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Cork and Dennis. Arriving last Thursday from Flagstaff, Ariz., were the Cork's son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Story, Lee and Robin, who will visit in Sidney most of the holiday season. Mrs. Cork's sister, Miss Esther Shaw, of Rawlins, Wyo., arrived Saturday evening to join the group.
* * *
Friday, Feb 22, 1963:
Returning home today were Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Story and family, of Flagstaff, Arizona, who have been guests of her parents Mr. and Mrs. Walter Cork.
* * *
Thursday, January 25, 1990:
When Barbara Cork graduated from Sidney High School she enrolled at Monmouth College in Illinois, later leaving there to attend the University of Colorado in Boulder. Music probably could have been her career goal, . . . but she was focusing on other things. Her experience in Chicago made her conscious of the needs of others and of a neglected field which she perceived as worthy of intense concentration.
* * *
Wednesday, February 21, 1990:
You may recall that we mentioned the recollection of her former music teacher (George Hinn) that Barbara [Cork Harwood] possessed "perfect pitch" in music. Some of her associates were chiding her on her talent, leading her to remind them that "I can tell what key you'll be hollering in if you don't get the pay checks on time."
* * *
Friday, February 14, 1992:
Former Sidneyite Barbara (Cork) Harwood . . . has achieved remarkable success and stature in housing development and other real estate activities in the Dallas regional market. Now, adding to the success story, comes the word that her company, BBH Enterprises, Inc , has been given national recognition by the Edison Electric Institute for a low income development in the Dallas suburb of Oak Cliff.
* * *
Wednesday, August 5, 1992:
Barbara Cork grew up in Sidney, graduating from Sidney High School. She was in town to visit her mother, Mrs. Walter (Ruth) Cork, who now resides at the Memorial Health Center Extended Care facility. Barbara's father died about a year ago. . . . We have reported in this column on a number of occasions the meteoric career of Barbara Harwood as a real estate/residential developer in the Dallas metropolitan area. She has attracted nationwide attention and has won numerous national awards for her creative achievements in housing development. . . .
* * *
Wednesday, January 6, 1993:
Barbara (Cork) Harwood of Dallas . . . has achieved a nationwide reputation for building housing for low income families in that region. She and her husband Richard not only build the facilities but have taken on the management of several and are dedicated to improving the living conditions of folks who find it difficult to find and maintain decent housing because of today's inflated prices.
* * *
Wednesday, September 15, 1993:
Barbara (Cork) Harwood . . . spent some time touring the remnants of the old Communist empire for a couple of weeks earlier this year and came home with the firm conviction that Russia's salvation as a democracy must be entrusted to the capable and influential hands of Boris Yeltsin. Barbara is a low income housing developer in the Dallas, Texas area. She was in town last week to visit her mother, Mrs. Walter Cork, who resides at Memorial Health Center, Extended Care Unit, and her aunt, Esther Jane Shaw, who lives in the Christ Apartments.
* * *
Monday, April 18, 1994:
Barbara (Cork) Harwood . . . has won national awards for her achievements in the construction industry. We now learn that she has not run out of entrepreneurial talents. In a press release from BBH Enterprises, Inc in Carrollton, Texas (where the company headquarters are located) we get the latest news of another unique concept of bringing affordable housing within reach of middle Americans.
* * *
Monday, April 8, 1996:
Barbara Cork [Harwood] has been in South Bend, Indiana on a special contract assignment where she directed an energy efficiency retrofit of a shopping center, a field where she has achieved considerable recognition. Barbara heads her own housing organization in the the Dallas area where she has won numerous national awards for building low income, energy efficient housing. Apparently, her reputation is spreading out across the country, thus the job in South Bend where she says they have been able to install many changes and establish energy efficiency. . . .
* * *
Tuesday, August 19, 1997:
Barbara Harwood (the former Barbara Cork) was in town recently to visit her aunt, Esther Jane Shaw, who is in a nursing home, and to care for property and other business interests. While here, she visited with Deanna Trowbridge, director of the Sidney Center of Western Nebraska Community College, eager to see the school become active in researching the viability of instituting some building trade classes (which would include research into the use of wheat straw as a building material) and to study other aspects of construction that might help address the need for low cost, energy efficient housing. . . .
* * *
Tuesday, October 21, 1997:
Barbara (Cork) Harwood will be in Sidney Thursday for an autographing party. She is on an extensive tour for book signing engagements for The Healing House, which was released for circulation in mid September and is destined for a nationwide merchandising program. After her signing here Thursday, she will be in Denver for a similar autographing appearance Fnday. The former Sidney resident and the daughter of the late Walter and Ruth Cook now lives in the Dallas area, where she and her husband have earned a reputation in the building trade. . . .
* * *
Tuesday, October 28, 1997:
Barbara Cork Harwood recalled the many times she thrilled to the singing of the Fankhausers, Bill and his late wife Willie. Some of those occasions were glad ones, some were sad, but she recalled that the Fankhausers blended their fine voices in appropriate selections that remain memorable moments to her. The new Harwood book The Healing House is in its second printing.
* * *
Tuesday, May 26, 1998:
Sidney native Barbara (Cork) Harwood comes back to the old home town every now and then to look after farm and town property interests and to care for her aunt Esther Jane Shaw, who is a resident at Memorial Health Center Extended Care Unit. But it is very rare that her husband Richard can accompany her because he is closely tied to their construction business and other holdings in the Dallas area, where they have won national recognition and many national awards for their design and construction of energy efficient homes. Well, Barbara was back in town recently and Richard was with her.
* * *
Tuesday, October 14, 2003:
Barbara Cork Harwood . . . still owns a farm near the Nebraska Colorado state line, [and] is now a principle [sic] in the California office of Dr. Donald Aitken, considered an internationally renowned speaker on renewable energy. She will introduce Aitken when he talks about wind energy as part of Sidney's farming and economic development future on Sunday, Oct 19.
* * *
Tuesday, June 28, 2005:
Donald Aitken and Barbara Cork Harwood of Donald Aitken Associates on wind power, and Mike Milius of Olsson Associates, . . . will present his company's draft pre-design report on the study of the Sidney Wastewater Treatment Facilities.
* * *
Thursday, June 30, 2005:
Barbara Cork Harwood, a Sidney native and now a business associate with [Donald] Aitken . . . said the hail that hit the area earlier this week took out about 25 percent of her wheat crop. She said adjoining land just across the state line in Colorado that her family once owned but sold, was also hailed, but that land owner will receive an economic boost because several wind towers will be situated there. He will still have that income, but Harwood said she would not benefit. . . .
(3) U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database online], Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011:
Name: Barbara Cork
Residence Year: 1958
Street address: 316 N 9th
Residence Place: Monmouth, Illinois, USA
Occupation: Student
Publication Title: Monmouth, Illinois, City Directory, 1958
(4) Barbara CORK and George Alfred HOLLEY were never married to each other. They had an extra-marital affair before January 24, 1961.
(5) Barbara CORK married Clfford Leroy STORY before December 24, 1962. See: Sidney Telegraph, Sidney, NE, Monday, December 24, 1962:
Arriving last Thursday from Flagstaff, Ariz., were the [Walter] Corks' son in law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Story, Lee and Robin, who will visit in Sidney most of the holiday season.
(6) Barbara CORK divorced Clifford Leroy STORY, and married James Shorttel BANNON, before 1970. See: U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database online], Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011:
San Jose, California, Suburban Directory, 1970, p. 33:
Bannon . . .
James (Barbara) h128a Belwood La (LG).
(7) Barbara CORK and her husband, James Shorttel BANNON, had moved to Dallas, Dallas County, TX before 1972. See: U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database online], Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011:
Polk's Greater Dallas City Directory, 1972, p. 66:
Bannon . . .
Jim (Barbara) h 6338 Azalea La
(8) Barbara CORK had divorced James Shorttel BANNON by June 24, 1979, when she married Richard C. HARWOOD.
(9) Barbara HARWOOD, Summary Resume <http://www.donaldaitkenassociates.com/bio_bh.html>:
Barbara Harwood, a LEED™ [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] Accredited Professional, consults in all aspects of sustainable and healthy design and architecture, primarily for residential, mixed-use and low-income buildings. Her extensive background as a 20-year builder and designer of high quality, energy-efficient, healthy residences gives her unique insight into the desires of the "cultural creatives," clients who want more than the traditional housing market offers. Her personal knowledge and experience with allergies and chemical sensitivities began a continuing pursuit of knowledge and experience into how buildings can be made healthy and safe for people with those illnesses. Her innovative use of renewable energies, both passive and active solar, in residential buildings was enabled, partially, by partnerships with both TXU Electric and Gas and solar manufacturers. Ms. Harwood brings this experience and knowledge to her present consulting work as co-principal of Donald Aitken Associates.
When Barbara Harwood founded BBH Enterprises, Inc. in 1984, her goal was to provide low-income housing that was energy efficient, an unheard-of-concept at that time. After successfully demonstrating to governments and the public that energy efficiency had to be included as a priority in low-income housing, Harwood, by consumer demand, moved on to found Enviro Custom Homes in 1995. Her principle [sic] goal, from that time until the sale of both businesses in 2002, was to build top quality homes, in all price ranges, that are energy efficient and protect people with allergies and chemical sensitivities. Her secondary goal then and her primary goal now, as a national and international consultant, is to make a difference to the future of this planet by changing the way housing is built and powered around the world.
Her companies have won the prestigious 1996, '97, '98, '99, 2000, 2001 and 2002 Energy Value Housing Award from the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) and the NAHB Research Center. In 1996, BBH Enterprises, Inc. was presented one of the 14 national Building Innovation for Homeownership awards from HUD for the Esperanza del Sol project in Dallas' inner city. In 1990, Harwood was awarded the Professional Building "Professional Achievement Award for Public-Private Partnerships" in tribute to her efforts to create innovative partnerships to produce energy efficient, low-income, for-sale and rental housing. In 1998, Enviro Custom Homes was selected to build HOME Magazine's "Earth-Friendly House," featured in a record eight-page article in the November 1999, issue, and two pages each in the December/January and February issues. Homes built by the company have been featured on all four major TV network newscasts, PBS, CNN, and are in re-runs with four episodes on HGTV.
In 1992, BBH Enterprises, Inc. won the Best Low-Income Development in the nation award from the Pillars of the Industry competition of the National Association of Homebuilders, and the Distinguished Appropriate Technology Award from the National Center for Appropriate Technology for their Prince William apartment complex in Oak Cliff, south of Dallas. The same project recently won a DOE award for "outstanding contributions in promoting an environmentally sustainable future." That project serves working families earning less than 50% of median income.
In 1994, the Esperanza del Sol community, developed by BBH Enterprises, Inc., was awarded designation as the nation's first E-Seal recipient. E-Seal is a kind of Good Housekeeping Seal for energy efficient homes. This inner-city development of passive solar, resource efficient, energy efficient, single family detached "courtyard-style" housing guaranteed that heating and cooling costs will not exceed $1/day/year round. Applying these same efficiency and solar principles in 1997 to a 2,910 square foot custom house in a Dallas suburb yielded utility bills averaging 56 cents a day.
Harwood is a nationally known speaker on issues of energy efficiency, resource efficiency, indoor air quality and healthy housing, sustainable architecture and development, and sustainable agriculture and gardening. She has keynoted numerous conferences, including the 2001 International Solar Energy Conference in Adelaide, Australia; the 2002 Affordable Comfort conference, the first annual National Green Building Conference, the National Low-Income Energy Consortium, the Michigan Governor's State Energy Conference, and the Vermont Lt. Gov's Annual Affordable Housing Conference, the 2006 Wisconsin Better Buildings Conference; and the 2004 Nebraska Low-Income housing and Energy Efficiency Conference. In 2003, Harwood and Dr. Donald Aitken were U.S. State Department speaker representatives to Germany for Earth Day where Harwood gave two lectures, one in Heidelberg and one in Munich. She has also given lectures to the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and to all 1800 CEO's of the nation's investor-owned utilities at the annual Edison Electric Conference.
From 2003 to 2010, Harwood and associate Dr. Donald Aitken were members of the faculty and responsible for the sustainable architecture curriculum at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture in Scottsdale, AZ, a nationally accredited institution.
In 2007, Harwood was selected as the Causier Memorial Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. The next year she was Keynote Speaker and leader of a full-day workshop in Florida, "Sarasota: A Sustainable City of the Future," for city, county and state officials charged with county planning for sustainability. Speaking engagements include the International Solar Citites [sic] Conference, Oxford University, England; and the International Solar Energy Conference in Orlando, FL, among others. In May 2011, she co-Keynoted The New Perspective, Making Sustainability Attainable and led a half-day seminar in Syracuse, NY. Throughout the last four years she has had numerous speaking engagements in her new home country of Mexico and consulted on numerous sustainable building and agriculture projects.
Past Chairperson of the Energy Committee and past 13-year National Director of the National Association of Homebuilders, Harwood has also served on national boards and commissions under three Presidents, including a recent three-year term on the PATH (Partnership for Advanced Technologies in Housing) Energy Efficient Mortgage Task Force. She was a charter member of the TXU Integrated Resource Planning Commission and, in her capacity as consultant to cities, was instrumental in making the city of Frisco, Texas, the first to adopt a citywide requirement that all new buildings be Energy Star rated. In 1997, she served as a member of the Habitat for Humanity "Green Team" to produce worldwide standards for energy efficient Habitat housing.
Her first book, The Healing House, (Hay House - 1997) was an Amazon best seller. Two manuscripts are in preparation: Awakening to Sustainability: The Power of Spirit, and a biography: One Step Ahead about a Jewish child hidden in Holland during the Holocaust. Harwood wrote the invited chapter, "Gaia's Freshwater, An Oncoming Crisis," in Gaia in Turmoil, (Crist and Rinker, Editors, MIT Press, 2010).
(10) Steve Kerch, "Women Finding Room At The Top In Home Building Industry," Chicago Tribune, Chicago, IL, February 7, 1988:
"This [housing] industry is a great uphill battle for anyone, man or woman," said Barbara Harwood, owner of B.B.H. Enterprises in Dallas.
Harwood said she "backed into" the housing business when she married Chicago builder Richard Harwood in 1979, leaving a newspaper she owned in Plano, Tex., to come north and rehabilitate older houses.
"While I was in the field, I found I loved the outdoors and the freedom," Harwood said. "When I was out there, I was able to learn about construction from watching the subcontractors.
"I quickly found that buildings built 30 or 40 years ago were giving people in Chicago fits with energy bills. So one of the first things I decided to do was to get my husband's company to raise its energy standards," she said.
Harwood's Chicago experiences led her on an eight-year crusade to reform government energy standards for builders. Along the way, she became the head of the home builders' standing committee on energy and a staunch advocate for low-income housing programs.
"High energy bills hit low-income people hardest, and low-income people are the most likely to live in old, leaky houses in the first place," she said. "I realized that not only were we not producing enough energy-efficient low- income housing, we weren' t producing enough low-income housing of any kind. And what we have is disappearing."
So Harwood returned to Texas in 1985, forming her own home building company to concentrate on low-income housing. The pitfalls she has encountered as a woman in the building industry have been those that anyone starting his or her own business would have found, she said.
"I can't tell you how much of the trouble has been because I'm a woman and how much has been because I'm always fighting the impossible dream," she said.
(11) Barbara CORK divorced Richard C. HARWOOD on February 11, 2003, and subsequently married Donald Watt AITKEN, Jr.
(12) Federal Election Commission <https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00431445/806136/sa/ALL/181>:
Itemized Receipts - Committee: Obama for America
Contributor's Name: Barbara Cork Harwood
Contributor's Address: 5802 Bob Bullock Loop C1, 5802 Bob Bullock Loop C1, Laredo, Texas 78041
Employer/Occupation: Self-Employed / Energy Consultant
Memo/Description:
Memo:
Text:
Date: 07/25/2012
Amount ($): 50.00
Aggregate ($): 220.00
Limits:
(13) Federal Election Commission <https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00431445/897086/sa/17A/9>:
Itemized Receipts - Committee: Obama for America
Contributor's Name: Barbara Cork Harwood
Contributor's Address: 5802 Bob Bullock Loop C1, 5802 Bob Bullock Loop C1, Laredo, Texas 78041
Employer/Occupation: Self-Employed / Energy Consultant
Memo/Description:
Memo:
Text:
Date: 09/25/2012
Amount ($): 50.00
Aggregate ($): 424.00
Limits:
(14) Barbara (CORK) HARWOOD changed her name to Pia (KRAUS) AITKEN sometime before July 19, 2011, when she opened a Facebook account. See:
https://www.facebook.com/pia.krausaitken.
(15) Obituary, The Guadalajara Reporter, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México, August 22, 2015:
Pia Kraus Aitken
Pia Kraus Aitken, also long known by her professional and pen name Barbara Harwood, died at San Javier Hospital in Guadalajara on August 14.
Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on July 13, 1940, Aitken graduated from the Sidney, Nebraska high school and the University of Colorado, majoring in journalism. She had a varied and distinguished career, first as a professional singer, then a reporter for Time Life with her own Denver TV show, followed by a long career as a design builder of energy-efficient and healthy low-income housing, serving on three Presidential Commissions and receiving numerous awards.
Aitken lived in Ajijic for eight years, where she was the volunteer coordinator for the Northern Lights Music Festival, and served on the Board of Directors of the Lake Chapala Jewish Community. She was a well-known area speaker on clean energy and water topics, and recently a frequent contributor to the Ojo del Lago. Her latest book with Ajijic resident Jack Prinz, "One Step Ahead," has just been published. An accomplished pianist, she frequently held musical evenings in her Ajijic home.
Aitken is survived by her husband, Donald Aitken; daughter Robyn Gothelf of Detroit Michigan; son Victor Bannon and honorary son Dan Koh, both of Dallas Texas; and seven grandchildren.
There will be a "Celebration of the Life of Pia Aitken" at the Lake Chapala Open Circle area on Sunday, August 30, noon. Flowers are welcome if they are live in pots, and will be planted in a special Aitken memorial garden area at her house after the commemoration.
(16) Michael McLaughlin, "In Memoriam - Pia Kraus Aitken," El Ojo del Lago, Chapala, Jalisco, México, December 2015, p. 83:12
Pia Kraus Aitken, also known by her professional and pen name Barbara Harwood, died at San Javier Hospital in Guadalajara on August 14, 2015. With her death the Lakeside community lost one of its most gifted and caring residents. An adopted child as a ten-month old baby by parents in the small agricultural town of Sidney, Nebraska she grew up on a wheat ranch. Jewish by birth - but a fact not known to her until she was 19.
She was also very musical, starting to study the piano at age 4, and as well had a lovely soprano voice. These musical gifts stayed with her in many forms throughout her life. In 1997, Pia wrote the The Healing House, a best-seller on Amazon.
Pia moved to Ajijic in 2007 with her husband, Dr. Donald Aitken, bought a house in West Ajijic and converted it to the first all-solar-energy house lakeside. An accomplished pianist, she frequently held musical evenings in their home. She was the Volunteer Coordinator for the annual Northern Lights Music Festival, and served on the Board of Directors of the Lake Chapala Jewish Community. Pia is survived by her husband, daughter Robyn Gothelf of Detroit, MI, and son Victor Bannon. She was a beautiful woman, inside and out, and will be sorely missed by the Lakeside Community.
(17) Legal Notice published in the Sidney Sun-Telegraph, Sidney, NE on November 11, 18 & 25, 2015:
IN THE COUNTY COURT OF CHEYENNE COUNTY, NEBRASKA
ESTATE OF BARBARA (CORK) HARWOOD AITKEN, DECEASED
Case No. PR15-62
Notice is hereby given that on November 4, 2015, in the County Court of Cheyenne County, Nebraska, the Registrar issued a written Statement of Informal Probate of the will of said decedent and that Donald Watt Aitken, Jr., 5802 Bob Bullock C1, Suite 328C-52, Laredo, Texas 78041, was informally appointed by the Registrar as Personal Representative of the estate.
Creditors of this estate must file their claims with this court on or before January 4, 2016, or be forever barred.
/s/ Lori Bartling
Clerk of the County Court
1000 Tenth Avenue
Sidney, Nebraska 69162
Thomas T. Holyoke, NSBA #11905
Chaloupka, Holyoke, Snyder, Chaloupka & Longoria, PC, LLO
1714 Second Avenue
Post Office Box 2424
Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363-2424
Telephone: 308-635-5000
Person ID I41480 Frost, Gilchrist and Related Families Last Modified 21 Oct 2023
Father Walter Stewart CORK, b. 25 Mar 1907, La Salle County, IL d. 4 Aug 1991, Sidney, Cheyenne County, NE (Age 84 years) Mother Ruth Elizabeth SHAW, b. 5 Jan 1907, York, York County, ME d. 29 Sep 1995, Sidney, Cheyenne County, NE (Age 88 years) Marriage 1931 Family ID F17816 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Father Clifford Nolan "Pat" DURST, b. 25 Apr 1913, Morrowville, Washington County, KS d. 25 Mar 1956, Dallas, Dallas County, TX (Age 42 years) Mother Gertrude Emillie KRAUSS, b. 10 Oct 1917, Cook, Johnson County, NE d. 24 Jun 2017, San Diego, San Diego County, CA (Age 99 years) Marriage 13 Oct 1939 Family ID F20155 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family 1 George Alfred HOLLEY, b. 9 May 1928, Longmont, Boulder County, CO d. 11 Mar 2015, New Iberia, Iberia Parish, LA (Age 86 years) Marriage Bef 26 Jan 1961 Children 1. Living Family ID F20185 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 28 Nov 2023
Family 2 Clifford Leroy STORY, b. 8 Sep 1916, Lingle, Goshen County, WY d. Mar 1985, Aurora, Arapahoe County, CO (Age 68 years) Marriage 26 Aug 1962 Aspen, Pitkin County, CO - (1) Colorado, U.S., Select County Marriages, 1863-2018 [database online], Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2020:
Name: Mr Clifford Leroy Story
Record Type: Marriage
Marriage Date: 26 Aug 1962
Marriage Place: Aspen, Pitkin, Colorado, USA
Spouse: Barbara Ann Cork
[Note by compiler: According to the marriage certificate, the groom was then of Denver, CO, and the bride was then of Westminster, CO. Denver is a consolidated city and county, and the City of Westminster is a home rule municipality located in Adams and Jefferson Counties, CO. Also, according to the marriage certificate, the bride was "Miss Barbara Ann Cork," indicating that this was her first marriage.]
Divorce Bef 1970 Children 1. Living 2. Living 3. Living Family ID F20181 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 21 Oct 2023
Family 3 James Shorttel "Jim" BANNON, b. 9 Apr 1911, Kansas City, Jackson County, MO d. 28 Jul 1984, Ventura County, CA (Age 73 years) Marriage Bef 1970 Divorce Bef 24 Jun 1979 Family ID F17817 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 28 Nov 2023
Family 4 Living Family ID F17821 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 10 Oct 2023
Family 5 Dr. Donald Watt AITKEN, Jr., b. 14 Mar 1936, HI d. 27 Feb 2022, Ajijic, Jalisco, México (Age 85 years) Marriage Aft 11 Feb 2003 Family ID F17822 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 28 Nov 2023
- (1) Barbara CORK was a birth child of Clifford Nolan DURST and Gertrude Emilie KRAUSS, and was an adopted child of Walter Stewart CORK and Ruth Elizabeth SHAW. Barbara was reportedly Jewish by birth (see Note 16 below), but the compiler has found no evidence that either of her birth parents was Jewish.
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Photos 
Barbara Ann CORK 
Pia Kraus AITKEN 
Jim BANNON and Barbara CORK
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