BARBARA CONDRA

Barbara was born and raised in St. Louis. After college she lived in Iowa and South Dakota but has lived for the past 27 years in Kansas City, Missouri. Although born a St. Louis Cardinal fan, she has no problem rooting for the Royals, unless they are playing the Cardinals!

Barbara met her husband, Harold, while a student at Northeast Missouri State College, (aka Truman State University), where she graduated with a B.S. in Elementary Education. She did not realize at the time that she was starting a family tradition. Her daughter, Lisa, attended Truman and met her husband, Mike, there. Granddaughter, Kaitlin, who just graduated from Truman State University, also met her future husband, Michael, there. However, not all of the grandchildren went to Truman. Brayden, their son, chose Missouri University of Science and Technology and is now a senior.

Barbara taught elementary and junior high school students for ten years in Iowa while raising her two children, and went on to earn a Doctorate degree in education from the University of Kansas. She spent sixteen years as a principal, director of elementary education and Deputy Superintendent for Instruction in the Raytown School District in suburban Kansas City.

Shawn, Barbara's son, also did not go to Truman, he thought it was time for someone in the family to step out in a different direction. He graduated from Manhattan Christian College, in Kansas, where he met his wife, Wendy. They have four daughters: Jaylen Ross, Macie, Piper and Quin. Jaylen graduated from Wichita State a year ago and married Eric this past March. Macie is currently a student, also at Wichita State. Piper will be a freshman at Kansas State University this fall, and Quin is a high school sophomore. Shawn is the mens' basketball coach for Manhattan Christian College and is having a successful career with over 500 wins.

Barbara loves to travel. Estes Park is the couple's favorite vacation place, but their visit to Vienna two years ago may have been their favorite trip. She has also traveled to western Europe and London with her daughter, who also loves to travel. She also traveled to India several times on mission trips while helping to train teachers for a mission school her church was helping to establish.

As you can tell family is very important to Barbara and the pictures below reflect that. Recently Barbara added a puppy to the family who is very special to her. His name is Oliver and he begged to have his picture included in the bio!

Barbara has always believed that it was important to act on your beliefs and to be someone who makes a difference. Throughout her life she often volunteered when there was a need and readily took on various leadership roles. This tendency began early in her life and because of this, her father, who was in the Army Reserves for forty years, once said to her he was glad she wasn't a boy, because she would probably have joined the Army, and as a soldier she would have volunteered for dangerous assignments, which would surely have gotten her shot.

Barbara felt compelled to write this current book after completing a study of the Holy Spirit. During that study she sought out the direction of the Holy Spirit as to what she could do about her concern for the welfare of this country and for the future impact it will have on her children and grandchildren. She felt that God was clearly telling her to write this book. So, she did.