Vinton woman is Iowa’s Mother of the Year

VINTON - Over the years, Barbara Wittmer has opened her 12-bedroom farmhouse outside Vinton to scores of foster children.

On April 26, that selflessness will be recognized as Wittmer, Iowa's Mother of the Year, attends the American Mothers national conference in Washington. At the conference, she has the chance of being named National Mother of the Year.

'I don't know who nominated me, I have no idea. My kids say they had nothing to do with this,” said Wittmer, 79, of the state mother of the year honor.

American Mothers is a non-profit organization started in 1935 by, among others, Eleanor Roosevelt and Mamie Eisenhower, which is dedicated to improving the lives of mothers and children around the world.

'I've just been caring for children all my life, and haven't known any different,” Wittmer said. 'A child's life comes before your own.”

Wittmer has five children of her own, four grandchildren and several great grandchildren. She also has cared for at least 85 foster children since her youngest son was killed in a farm accident in 1980.

One of those foster children sticks out to Wittmer.

'There was this little baby that was found in a building that marijuana was growing (in). The mother went to jail and I took the baby in,” she said. 'When the mother got out, she came to get the baby. I shook my finger at her for a long time and said ‘you don't ever put a baby in that environment, and if you don't straighten up you are going to lose this baby for good.'”

Years later, Wittmer got a call from her daughter, who is a nurse at Unity Point-St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids.

'She said, ‘Mom, you would never guess who I just saw,'” Wittmer said. 'I go, ‘Who?' She said that mother that left her baby in the building with the marijuana.”

The woman just had given birth to another child, and saw ‘Wittmer' on the daughter's name tag.

'She asked my daughter if she knew me, and she told her that I was her mother,” Wittmer said.

The mother then gave Wittmer's daughter a message to pass on: 'You tell your mother I got my act together because of her, and will never put a baby in any danger, ever again.”

Wittmer's nurturing instincts have been recognized before. In 1990, she was recognized as an Iowa Master Farm Homemaker, an honor given to those who promote the highest standard of living in the farmhouse and focus attention on the positive aspects of farm life.

'I just love the farm,” she said mentioning the cows, sheep, chickens, pigs, horses, dogs and cats she has cared for over the years.

Wittmer was born in Wheeling, W.Va, but labels herself as a 'city girl,” having lived in Dayton and Marion, Ohio, Chicago and Hammond, Ind., before moving to Iowa with her husband Warren in 1957.

Warren farmed the land around the house, and she took care of the children and milked the cows.

Warren died after suffering a heart attack in 1995, and now one of her grandsons is farming the land.

As she travels to Washington next week along with proud family members, she will bring a framed poem her nieces and nephews gave her years ago.

'Aunt Barbara threats you like her own,” it reads. 'When you come to stay / She cares for you. She consoles you / If you're lost. She knows the way / For she is a very special women / To sacrifice her day / And dedicates herself to home and all who come her way.”