Elsa Spitznagel Barnard, 92, formerly of Monte Sereno, died July 25.

She was born in 1913 in Buffalo, N.Y., to Francis R. Spitznagel, an accountant, and Charlotte Bernhardt Spitznagel, a housewife. A child during World War I, she was taunted for her German ancestry. After her mother's death from a stroke in 1926, she took over running the household. She went on to graduate from Bennett High School in Buffalo and studied banking for one year at the University of Buffalo. She took a job in estate planning at Marine Trust Co.

She met her husband, John Barnard, then a mill hand at Republic Steel, on an outing at Murray Hill Ski Club outside of Buffalo. They were married on March 21, 1942. John was drafted into the Army Air Corps that year, and Elsa worked office jobs while he served as a B-25 bomber mechanic and crew member. Following the war, she worked in the administration office at the University of Buffalo while John earned a degree in mechanical engineering. The couple had three children--John Jr., Jeffrey and Charlotte.

In 1956 they moved to Saratoga. John's work took them to Bethesda, Md., in 1963, and they eventually settled in Monte Sereno in 1966. Along the way, the couple helped found three churches. Their children found careers in law, news reporting and magazine editing, and Elsa volunteered at Village House in Los Gatos.

The couple moved to Ashland, Ore. in 1999.

Elsa is survived by her husband, John Barnard of Ashland; sons John Barnard Jr. of Danville and Jeffrey Barnard of Grants Pass, Ore.; daughter Charlotte Barnard Sawyer of New York City; brother Robert Spitznagel of San Diego; and five grandchildren.