10/12/1937 – 1/13/2017
“The Good Life”. This is not only the slogan for Nebraska but also how Barb or Bobbie would describe her life. She was born in Omaha, NE as the youngest of 7 children to Christian and Helma Thomsen. She attended Omaha Public Schools graduating from Benson High School. On June 5, 1956 she married Donald Treadway. Together they had 3 children, Diane, David and Kim. They raised their family on 110 Street. Grandma Thomsen always asked why they had moved to the “boonies” as at the time the city limit was 72nd street.
Bobbie worked for Skelly Oil until the Omaha office was closed. She then went back to school learning the insurance trade. She initially worked for Campbell Howard Love Haskel Insurance Agency finally retiring from Associated Underwriters at age 72.
What did Bobbie live for? Family, friends, helping others, travel and the Huskers.
Bobbie enjoyed her immediate and extended family. She loved family get-togethers. The extended family celebrated holidays together. Christmas was a time where Bobbie’s sense of humor and mischief would come out. She was known for coming up with present ideas to play jokes on others such as NE gifts for the non-Nebraska fan or spider related items for the person who has Arachnophobia or wrapping a cash present in box after box after box.
She also created a Christmas tradition that continued until this year. The tradition started with the kids and neighborhood friends gathering at the Treadway house to make cookies. Each child took some of the cookies home to share with their family. This humble beginning started the mass production of cooking numerous types of Christmas cookies, breads and candy. Then the immediate family would gather and create boxes for friends, neighbors and acquaintances. While in the hospital, she made sure her son would continue this tradition on, every time he visited her, she wanted to know if the cookies were done. So if he missed you with cookies this year, please let him know.
She also created a tradition of making Christmas stockings for all new immediate and extended Thomsen family members. She would take a plain felt stocking kit and decorate designs with sequins to make it special. Her goal was to complete the stocking for the individual’s first Christmas with the Thomsen family.
Following her retirement, Bobbie continued to be active. She discovered the Camelot Community Center. She enjoyed attending the center to play cards, make crafts, and just socialize. She always thought of and put others first. Bobbie liked to cook and would bring cupcakes or other treats to the center just for the heck of it. She would see something in a store and buy it for a person because it looked like something the person would like.
Bobbie and Don both loved to travel. Often an afternoon family drive would end up several hours long and miles from home. Bobbie was the planner of trips. Only when the kids were older did they learn that their dad worked a second job on his days off to pay for the vacations. Bobbie would write to the tourism boards to obtain information on places to see, where to camp, etc. Then the planning would really start. The family traveled in Don’s truck and camped in a pop-up trailer everywhere they went. One year they did a 3-week trip up through Michigan, Canada, and down the east coast to New York City. Bobbie even found a KOA campground in Jersey City, New Jersey where the family could look out and see New York City.
This love of travel continued her entire life. After all of her kids were older, Bobbie and Don loved to call Dave and ask, “Where are we going this year?”. It didn’t matter if it was to the same place or not, Don would just say, “I hauled your butt around for 20 years, now its your turn, and he would proceed to get in the back seat and say, lets go”. Bobbie orchestrated many cruises that included the extended family, sometimes as high as 20 people. She would start the planning 2+ years before the actual trip. She definitely missed her calling as a travel agent. The travels took family to Hawaii, the Caribbean several times, and Alaska. She continued to travel after Don passed touring to various places in the Midwest with a travel group. In total she traveled to all 50 states, Canada, Mexico and East and West Caribbean.
Anyone who knew Bobbie knew another love of her life is sports, especially all things Husker. She loved anything and everything connected with the Big Red. Bobbie and Don went to home football games. After Don retired, they would travel to close away games too. They even traveled to the Fiesta bowl game in 1996. Bobbie continued to attend the home games with season tickets in the south end zone. Even with the pain in her knees while waiting for knee replacements, she continued to attend. Dave always took her but occasionally he would let other family members take his place. A recent highlight was attending a home game in a skybox to see Nebraska and Purdue, she thought she had died and gone to heaven, what a treat.
Her children, grandchildren and extended family dearly loved Bobbie. She will be missed by all her knew her.
Barbara was preceded in death by her parents: Christian & Helma Thompson; husband: Donald Treadway; brothers: Russell Thomsen, Donald Thomsen, LaVerne Thomsen; sisters: Margaret Boynton; and her daughter: Kimberly K. Moose.
She is survived by her children: Diane (Bruce) Meyer, David (Rita) Treadway; grandchildren: Jason Prusha (Treadway), Douglas Treadway, Eric Treadway, Erin Krupski-Yates and Derek Yates, Tyler Krupski, Samantha Moose, Kale Evan Meyer; sister: Dorothy Matthes; brothers & sisters-in-law: Raymond Thomsen, Marilyn Thomsen, and Wanda Thomsen.
Visitation Friday 6:00 – 8:00 PM; Service 10:00 AM Saturday (1/21/2017) all at Roeder Mortuary 2727 N. 108th Street Omaha, Nebraska, Interment Hillcrest Memorial Park Omaha, Nebraska
