The GateKeeper

Written By The Voice

The Gatekeeper is referred to as a person with some type of authority. A staunch figure typically found at an event or place, guarding an entrance or exit, a figure, who decides whether individuals are allowed in or out. A gatekeeper(s) is trustworthy and acts as the go between to who is in charge. In the bible a gatekeeper is someone who is guarding the gate to heaven allowing or turning away souls passed. For every gate there is a keeper physically, mentally, and spiritually. In this story there are many keepers of the gate but there are cracks in said gate, allowing outsiders to peer through to the other side. Seeing but not fully understanding where the truth lies.

First, I would like to thank Jamie, Barbara’s daughter, for speaking with me. She always wondered what really happened to her mother but never looked deep until last year. I thank her for sharing her story and trusting me to give her mother a voice. I also want to thank Karleen, the niece of Barbara. She was a little older at the time her aunt vanished and was able to give a different perspective and how she saw things growing up. Jamie and Karleen have one goal and that is to bring Barbara home and to expose the truth about what happened to her so many years ago.

Barbara McClure

Barbara Annette McClure (Anderson) was born on May 19, 1954, in Seattle, Washington to her parents Ray and Frances Anderson. Barbara was one of three children. She had an older brother Ken and older sister Sharon. Barbara was described as outspoken and bold. She was funny and liked to make people laugh but she was also strong-willed and fiercely independent. Barbara’ s father Ray was an owner of a custom home building business. He built dream homes, building over one-thousand homes in the greater Seattle area. In 1959, Ray found a property in Edmonds where his biggest project yet came to light, the original Westgate Chapel. It is stated Ray was the most committed to missions only second to God himself. Ray would often be featured in the Seattle Times for his work. The Anderson home was a strict one and the parents ran a tight ship. Faith was the number one priority in the household and her parents stood firm on those beliefs. When Barbara was a teenager, she found herself straying from the grips of religion and her family. She tried her best and pretended to follow rules laid by her parents and the church, but by her rebel nature she wanted to be carefree with nothing stopping her. Barbara loved wearing make-up and girly clothing that she would have to sneak to school to enjoy. Once Barbara was at a church party and someone called Ray to report this, and someone attending brough in a blacklight. This enraged Ray to the point he showed up at the event and dragged her out of the party. This is where Barbara’s life begins to shift. Her parents were not proud of how she was acting. Barbara starting smoking pot and became interested in dating. All of these were against God’s plan for the Anderson children.

Little Barbara

When Barbara was a teen, she met a boy named Randy McClure. A typical high school couple at King’s High School (A private prestigious Christian School), Randy was a jock and nothing like the boys Barbara knew from church. Her family did not approve of Randy, mainly because they thought he would be a bad influence on their daughter. Barbara was going to do what she wanted and before anyone knew it Barbara and Randy eloped, right after she graduated in 1972. Her parents warmed up to the idea because this might mean Barabra would settle down instead of “running around”. Soon the couple became pregnant and had their daughter Jamie. Jamie was the apple of her mother’s eye. Life seemed complete, for the moment. That was until Randy and Barbara hit turmoil. It is not known exactly the reason(s) for the divorce, but Randy and Barbara split. She enjoyed being single and independent. Barbara and her daughter Jamie moved in with a friend, Brenda, in September of 1978. Barbara and Randy shared custody of Jamie and the pair seemed to adjust to co-parenting well. Barbara started a new job at a local hotel (A local Seattle hotel, The Olympic Hotel). With newfound freedom there was danger lurking, in a form no one could see coming.

On the night of Thursday, November 2, 1978, Barbara, Brenda, Barbara’s new friend Scott, and another couple who were friends (and roommates) with Scott, met at the Sirloin Inn. The Sirloin Inn was located in the Forest Park Shopping Center. The Inn was on the top floor of the building and Fandango bar was on the bottom. Fandango was holding a disco this night; you know the 70’s. Barbara met Scott recently as they both worked at the same hotel. They competed together in dancing competitions at discos. During this competition Barbara and Scott got into a disagreement. Barbara grabbed her purse and told her colleges she was leaving and walking home. Barbara’s home was five miles away from Fandango. She lived in the 1500 block of northeast 89th Street. As the story goes, Barbara left and hour later Scott and his friends drove in the direction of Barbara's home. (This was the opposite way of their home). They spotted Barbara walking and pulled over to ask her if she wanted a ride home, this was in the 16500 block of Bothell Way northwest, about half a mile from the disco. Barbara declined this offer and they drove away. They went to another bar, closer to his home which was about ten miles away from Fandango, but later returned to the disco. Barbara never made it home that night, she vanished and was never seen again, or so the story goes.

Barbara & Jamie

The following day Barbara’s roommate and friend Brenda called the police to report her friend hadn’t come home the night before. The police initially treated her disappearance as a missing person rather than a crime. However, Barbara’s friends knew she had no credit cards and only a dollar in her purse. Days later on November 8, her driver's license was found near the intersection of Interstate 5 and Interstate 405. (At the time in 1978, this was a dead-end road) Reports from that time state two things, one, a construction worker was the one to find her license. Two, after Barbara’s disappearance her friends told the police and family she was being followed around town. Barbara claimed she didn’t know who it was though.

What would have been Barbara’s Walk home

Barbara was an outcast and coined “black sheep” of her family. She was the one that didn’t follow the rules set in stone by her father, the gate keeper of West Gate church. The church and congregation Ray built around him and his family meant the most. If anyone, including his own children stepped out of those lines set in place, you were shunned. Decades later it was revealed by one of Barbara's family members that Ray and a group consisting of family and church members were actually the people to find Barbara’s license. Ray picked the location to be searched, where Barbara’s license was recovered, in a remote location off a dead-end road, approximately ten miles from where Barbara was last seen at Fandango. This discovery set the scene and the assumptions for decades to come. Almost everyone in her family and locals believed two things could have happened. She either ran away or she was abducted by a stranger.

Original missing flyer for Barbara

Today more has been brought to light. In 1978, Barbara told her friends she believed she was being followed. Although she wasn’t sure who was doing this, she believed her father, Ray, was behind it all.  Before Barbara was married to Randy, she was breaking ties with her religious upbringing, her parents, and more importantly, her father. Ray always seemed to be watching his daughter’s every move. The trust was broken. Single and on her own for only a couple months, Barbara felt like someone was watching her every move again. She gave some examples of this, to friends, stating her father would always tell her what she was doing, who she was with and where she was. Questioning her actions and movements because in his eyes these were shameful. Ray wanted his daughter to be respectful and modest. Dancing at night, on the town was uncalled for and quite frankly embarrassed the family and the church. An imagine Ray worked so hard to keep. "She was leading a fast life, according to my standards. Going out with a lot of guys to a lot of parties". -Ken Anderson

After Barbara vanished, the Anderson family continued life as normal. Two weeks after Barbara's disappearance Ray went to her home gathered a few mementos and Jamie's items, leaving the majority to the homeowner. Barbara's brother sold her car shortly after she vanished. Barbara’s uncle, Roger Anderson pushed Ray to share flyers of his daughter and urged him to post a reward for any information leading to her whereabouts. Ray did just that and increased the reward later to $10,000 from the original $6,000. Two years after Barbara disappeared, a long-time right-hand man and close friend of the family Jim Hansen, called Ray. Jim was with his family vacationing in Hawaii sometime in 1980. He called Ray and was frantic, Jim claimed to have seen Barbara just earlier on the beach. He tried to stop the woman, but she quickly ran off. Ray was upset but not because Jim may have found his daughter, but because Ray did not believe his story and deemed Jim delusional. Telling everyone "Jim is crazy". Hawaii was ironically Barbara’s favorite place; she had been there before as her father owned a condo on the island for a period of time.

Jamie was raised by her father, but her grandparents were a constant in her life. She looked up to her grandparents. She recalls though that they never really spoke of her mother. As Jamie grew up, she started asking more questions about her missing mother. She never received any direct answers from Ray or Frances. Ray and Ken Anderson did refer Jamie to a family friend and pastor, Ken Gaydos, who was the gatekeeper and "in charge" of looking into Barbara’s disappearance according to Ray and his son Ken Anderson however, investigators had no knowledge of him. Ken had a file complied of all things Barbara McClure he would frequently reach out to Jamie and assure her he was still working on her mother’s disappearance. After Ray passed in 2006 Ken would often be seen at his home, keeping Frances Anderson company. Frances passed away in 2016 and Ken passed away in 2018.

Barbara’s case is currently active as of February 2023.

What happened to Barbara Annette McClure on November 2, 1978? Anyone who knew or heard of her disappearance prior to 2023 mostly likely thought to take a deeper look at her friends or more importantly Scott. However, things are not always as they seem. After finding out more about Barbara and who she was as a person, also learned was her struggles with her family and the church. Who Barbara was, was the complete opposite of what her parents wanted her to be. Throughout the decades one thing was a constant for Jamie and that was no one wanted to talk about her mother and if they did, the information was vague. Between family, church members or Barbara’s friends, her life was nonexistent. Ken Gaydos, however, always seemed to jump into the mix whenever there was a question but again vague responses. Was Barbara taken by a stranger off the streets of Seattle? Did she hop into a vehicle with someone she knew? Was Barbara really seen in Hawaii two years after her disappearance? And were certain gatekeepers set in place by Ray to ensure Barbara would be anything but remembered?


I also spoke with Karleen, niece of Barbara. Karleen is Ken daughter. Karleen told me what she knew of her aunt all those years ago. She recalled her aunt not being included in any family function because she was the outcast. Karleen does not have any specific memory of Barbara because she was never allowed around her to spend any time bonding over what a typical niece and aunt would. Barbara wasn’t like the rest of the family, and they did not want her around. Although Barbara was seen around Christmas time every year. Karleen recalls on November 4, 1978, Ray Jr. and his wife informed Karleen that Barbara was “missing” but assured her that she would return home soon. She would periodically ask about her aunt but was always told she would be back. Christmas of 1978 came, and Karleen waited and watched as her aunt never walked through the door, something she will always remember. Karleen became suspicious of the church and her own family. She was getting the same answers that Jamie was, nothing. The more she pushed and prodded the more her own family pushed her away. Today Karleen does not have a relationship with her family due to this conflict and Barbara’s disappearance. She believes the gatekeepers hold the answers.

Barbara & Jamie

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