Steven L. Barrus

Steven Lamont Barrus, 64, left us on February 5, 2024  he was born May 9, 1959 to LaMar Noble Barrus & Marilyn Fackrell Barrus. He was born in Blackfoot Idaho but live his early years in Burley Idaho. Later his parents moved to Basalt Idaho. Where he grew up with 5 siblings, Kanin (husband Ron), Guy (wife LaDell), Nanett (husband Bert), Jeff (wife Rebecca), and David (wife Traci). In order of birth Steven was the fourth.

Steve was very blessed. At age 9 a huge tank fell off and landed on him while playing with his sister and aunt, pinning him & crushing his ribs & lungs with no else one around the two young girls lifted that heavy tank off of him saving his life. Later four full grown men would not lift it. Miracle? One of many to be sure. He also lost his hearing when he was young, most likely being the way only Steve could be & catching a mis-placed smack on his water filled ear punctured it & inadvertently ending any interest he had for the water... period. Not one to complain often, when he did it was most often meant in good humor or verbal jousting it was hard to best his quick wit & creative delivery. Though he loved to encourage anyone's creativity and desire to try something new.

Steven's father was a water well driller, so he had many adventure traveling place to place, where ever the work took them.

As he got older he helped with the business doing pump jobs & what ever the job needed. Steve worked in many fields & excelled at any occupation that utilized his creativity. He began focusing on his artistry once his children had grown up, whatever someone could dream up he could make and put in a little extra to top it off. He was truly an artist through and through. He made an extraordinary number of creations of all of variety, and was blessed with many talent's, loved one's & experiences. He had an artistic passion, vision & talent. He began collaborating with his close friend the late Shawn Rivet, which was a great experience for both. Most prominent was a huge Elkhorn sculpture for the University of Wyoming. He had projects in many other places & created the beautiful fireplace in Haven (now closed). Which will be the location for his memorial services. Steven dabbled with all kinds of art forms, the exception being those that made him the center spotlight possibly because he delighted in watching someone's face light up at a creation intended for them. He made cakes, Ice, clay, wood, stone, shrubbery, even concrete sculptures, Marionettes, music instruments, poems, rhyme's funny story's and dozens of doodles to illustrate whatever situation he was intrigued by & many other's. Most people that knew him had something he created. He was the type of person he had to stay busy in some way so he was either working, creating something and or spending time with those precious to him.

He was working on a stomper when he met "Rusty" Phyless Clark the mother of his children & wife for over a decade. They were married February 13, 1981 in Forsyth, Montana. Not long after they had Eric Lamont Barrus. Disabled though you wouldn't know it from their interaction, and 6 years later was blessed again with a healthy Kyle Steven Barrus. Steve adored both of his boys & was proud of them along with a niece he considered a daughter, Mandy was part of the family too. Nephew, Jeremy he viewed kinda like a son. He was always a eager and proud to support his family and extended family's however he could.

  Steve & Rusty sadly divorce later. He later met Terri, they eventually moved to the home they both would live & love the rest of there lives. He was blindsided when she passed away about a decade & many cherished memories later. They had even become doting grandparents together so understandably he was devastated for a time.

 After awhile he reconnected with an old friend Sue, what a cute couple they became, like bashful teenagers. Sue had two grown children Mariah & Jeremiah he became close to as well. Then sadly about another decade later she passed away too.  Eventually he began spending time with new sweetheart Wanda when his health had taken a turn for the worst so perhaps sensing the inevitable decided to try and focus on his health & home where he spent the last months struggling to recover from heart failure in his home near his oldest son & visiting his youngest as much as he was able. Then when on February 5th his heart finally gave out on his way home with a wax ring, and dinner.

 Steven was a kind and loving man, he had a way of lifting people up & helping them see best & worst in any situation, giving perspective when needed. He loved to make people laugh with his jokes and pranks. He touched many life's.

 He leaves behind his two sons (Eric & Kyle), grandchildren Erikye Barrus & Kizma Barrus). Kyle's Children. He was preceeded in death by his parents, Terri, his ex-wife phyless, Sue & many friends. He also leaves a legacy of love, beauty, humor, friendship, kindness, mischievousness, creativity, encouragement & confidence that we all can, if we only try. Steven was loved and will be greatly missed. Playing & painting in the clouds now I'm sure.

 For anyone interested, a simple service will be held at Haven on April 6th at 1:00  I also encourage anyone to bring pictures of his artwork they have to share.