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Barbara J. McCracken, 92, of Downers Grove, IL and formerly Deerfield Retirement Community in Urbandale, died July 1, 2017. Barbara was born in Sioux City, IA, on Oct. 2, 1925. She graduated from Iowa State University in 1947 with a degree in Family and Consumer Sciences. While at Iowa State, she served as the editor of the 1947 Bomb, which was awarded the All-American Honor Award, the highest honor bestowed by the National Scholastic Press Association.

Barbara was a retired home economics and food writer and former editor for Midwest Living and Better Homes and Garden’s Special Interest Publications. She is proceeded in death by her first husband, Richard Albrecht died in 1994, and her second husband, L. Scott McCracken, died in 2012. She is survived by her two children from her first marriage and three grandchildren; and four stepchildren from her second marriage and five step-grandchildren and a step-great-grandchild.