Nancy Barbin was born on June 19, 1943. She grew up in rural Detroit Lakes where she attended Rochert Country School District 57 and then attended junior high school and high school graduating from Detroit Lakes High School in 1961.

She helped on the family farm and was confirmed at Bakke Lutheran Church as a young girl. She remembered being extremely happy when she was 13 years old and the family moved into a house with running water.

In June 1962, she married Donovan Guida. This marriage was blessed with 2 kids, Kimberly Jo and Randal Donovan. Nancy worked as a homemaker and also at area banks. She lived in Detroit Lakes and then Moorhead before building a new home on the Red River in South Fargo. During this time, she attended many car races and played league softball.

In December of 1974, the family moved to Ice Cracking Lodge, northeast of Detroit Lakes. Nancy embarked on running a lodge and bar resort with 6 cabins on Ice Cracking Lake. Nancy and Kim served meals, cooked for customers, waitressed, tended bar, and cleaned cabins.

In 1977, Nancy moved to Park Rapids, and she worked at several different businesses including candle manufacturing and food industry work. In 1978, she bought a home in Park Rapids that she would own for the rest of her life.

Nancy also attended Wadena Technical College and graduated with a degree in Cosmetology.

In 1984, she took a job traveling and selling advertising which took her across the country and down the eastern seaboard into the deep south. While in Louisiana she was involved in a car wreck that left her waiting for her car to be rebuilt and it was there what she struck up a friendship with Charles Barbin who was managing the motel where she was staying. Twice her car was repaired and twice it stalled leaving town as she was scheduled to continue her sales journey. Charles kept bringing her meals and by the time her car was finally fixed they decided she would stay there. She got a job at a local newspaper, and Charles and Nancy embarked on a love affair that lasted 41 years. They married in Marksville, Louisiana on September 20, 1985, and moved back to her home in Park Rapids in 1987. Nancy worked at a dental lab and did telemarketing while managing the home with Charles. She later worked at an alcohol treatment center before she retired.

Nancy adored being married to her Cajun from Louisiana. She also loved visits from their kids, grand and great-grandkids and many friends at any time. If you stopped in for a visit, even the first time, you were not a stranger.

They adopted a platoon of feral cats that they fixed, fed and named and provided warm outdoor shelters for.

Nancy was thrilled to see the Twins win 2 world series championships and suffered a lifetime of being a Minnesota Viking’s Fan. “There is always next year.”

In later years, Nancy actively studied politics and global geo publicity issues and was always eager to share what she was learning.

Nancy passed into eternal rest at Sanford Medical Center on January 20, 2026, surrounded by her devoted husband, Charles, and her kids.

A private celebration of her life will take place on her birthday, June 19, 2026.