Recalling memories: ‘Uncle Barry’ recovering from stroke
By Chris Gessele, BHG News Service
Being a pastor, Barry Zietz has learned to appreciate the good in each and every person. These days, those positive attributes are overwhelmingly obvious to Barry as seen through an outpouring of support from family, friends and co-workers. Barry and his wife, Audrey, reside in Underwood, where Barry is recovering from back surgery and a recent stroke. Stuck without income or health insurance, family and friends are organizing a sausage and pancake freewill fundraiser from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday at Underwood City Hall. Barry, an employee at Krause’s Super Valu in Hazen, has been out of work since August when doctors found a bulging disc along his spinal cord. He underwent back surgery in September, and was on the road to recovery when he suffered a stroke Oct. 27. "There was a lot of confusion, loss of memory," Barry recalled of his stroke. "It took a while to find the right words, and just to remember names and recall memories." He has given hundreds of sermons in his five years as a pastor in Twin Buttes–though when he tried reading the Bible he couldn’t make sense of the words.
