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RAPID CITY, S.D. – Barbara Ann Yirka (nee Rouse) died Monday, October 26, 2026 at Good Samaritan Society St Martin's Village, Rapid City, SD.
Barbara Ann Yirka (nee Rouse) was born, in Chicago, Illinois on October 20, 1932. She was the only child of William Wilson Rouse and Gertrude McGill Rouse. The family lived in in WI and SD for short periods, and finally settled in Elgin, IL, where she graduated from high school.
After her graduation, her parents moved to Rapid City, SD, and Barbara attended the University of South Dakota at Vermillion. She met Robert Yirka there, and after her junior year, they were married, October 5, 1953. Bob had just completed officer training in the Air Force, and Barb became a military bride, a role she was to fulfill for the next 27 years. They traveled and lived in many places around the United States and Europe. During that time Barbara and Bob had six children.
When Bob retired, they moved to Rock, MI, where Bob was employed for ten years as Financial Aid Director at Bay de Noc Community College. While in Rock, Barbara worked in a community youth center and later, as a Loss Prevention manager at the ShopKo store in Escanaba, MI.
On Bob's retirement from the college, the couple moved to Rapid City. At about this time, Barbara began writing fiction with the intent to publish. She sold her first book, a Regency Romance in 1991, and continued writing under the pseudonym Anne Barbour until 2002. She won several national and regional literary awards, including the prestigious RITA Award and Best Regency Writer of the Year by Romantic Times. During this time, she published fourteen novels and four novellas. Her books were also published in several foreign languages.
She enjoyed her writing "fling" immensely, but was pleased to take up a new interest, genealogy.
Barbara was preceded in death by her parents and her husband. She is survived by her children: Ja'fr (& Wati) Yirka of Frederick, MD; Kathy (& Van) Wire of Mitchell, SD; Chuck (& Candyce) Yirka of Gloucester, VA; Bob (& Toni) Yirka of Bloomfield, IN; Trish (& Leo) Kolaszewski of Oshkosh, WI; and Barb Yirka of Rapid City, SD; as well as eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be Tuesday, November 3 at 9:30 at Blessed Sacrament Church in Rapid City, SD. Funeral Mass will begin at 10:30, also at Blessed Sacrament Church. Burial will be at Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis, SD with her husband, Bob.
Arrangements are with Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home, Rapid City, SD.
Barbara requests memorials be sent to the Alzheimer's Association in lieu of flowers.