Barbara Jean Colette Plakut (1943-2024)

Barbara Jean Colette Plakut, age 80, passed away on February 15th at Artis Senior Living Facility in Chicago. She was born in Little Falls, MN to Herbin and Eleanor Hennes. Barb grew up in the Little Falls/St. Cloud area and graduated from Saint Cloud State (now Saint Cloud University) with a degree in Sociology. During her time in high school and college, Barb forged many friendships, many that continued to thrive until the time of her passing. People always wanted to be around Barb. She had that kind of energy and compassion.

Barb had a long, rewarding career in retail after spending time working initially in social services and then devoting herself to spending time raising her daughters when they were young. During her retail career, Barb continued to take on more responsibility and moved into various management roles where  she quickly garnered the respect of her fellow colleagues and  leadership who were fortunate to work with her. Her journey took her through residencies at numerous retailers including Petite Sophisticate, Casual Corner, Ann Taylor Loft, Coldwater Creek, and finally Baby Gap. Along the way, Barb would always amass a new group of colleagues that inevitably became good friends. She retired in 2018 at which time she enjoyed spending as much time as possible with her daughters and their families in Chicago.

Barb had an intense love of nature and the outdoors. She was always up for an adventure and a challenge, including many hiking/backpacking trips that she did in the National Parks with her college friends. Her love of the outdoors started when she was very young, and she even got her daughters to enjoy it (for a time for one of them) when the family would go on what became annual camping trips with lifelong family friends and their families. Her last trip took her to see the breathtaking beauty of the Zion and Bryce National Parks in Utah.

Barb enjoyed competition and was always up for a game night. She was part of a 40+ year bridge group that would get together regularly. Although in more recent years, it eventually became more social than competitive, which was just fine with Barb. She cherished her family and friends above everything else and traveled often to them to ensure that she could maintain those strong bonds and connections. Barb also had an intense love of music and the theater, enjoying all of the wonderful cultural activities that Milwaukee offered.  She loved to dance and her dance card was always full when she attended weddings or family functions.  Barb had a love for learning new things and skills,  When her daughters were younger, she took classes in woodworking and auto maintenance at the local community college. She took on these new challenges with grace and even built the girls their very own two-story dollhouse complete with wallpaper and shag carpeting. She also built an eight foot wood media center that she had in her last condo in Milwaukee.

Barb is survived by her daughters Julie Plakut (Brian Vaughan) and Jennifer Plakut (Matthew Sullivan), her granddaughters Emma and Norah Vaughan and Noelle Sullivan, her sisters MaryKay Klang (Bill Klang) and Carol Rosiere (Ray Rosiere) and brother Lambert Hennes.  She is preceded in death by her parents Herbin and Eleanor, her brothers John and Gerald Hennes, her sister-in-law Judy Hennes, and her husband James Plakut.

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