Barbara Bafundo

Barb was born to Clarence S. Braun and Joan F. Romer in Coldwater, OH, where she spent a happy childhood surrounded by her maternal grandparents, four siblings (Paula Luthman, Pamela Anthony, R. Scott Braun, and Virginia Seitz), and many close neighbors and friends. When describing her mother and grandmother, who were college graduates and business owners in the 1950s, she often said, “they were really something else,” and, in many ways, the example of their spirit and smarts, along with her father’s easy and gentle laugh, steered the trajectory of her life. She was sure of who she was, firm in her beliefs, and willing to work for what she wanted. She was also a whole lot of fun.

Barb met the love her life and husband of 44 years, Robert W. Bafundo, at Wittenberg University in Springfield, OH. They would become fast friends in college and marry at St. Charles Seminary in Carthagena, OH on July 14, 1979.

Barb graduated from Wittenberg with a degree in Special Education and began teaching in Columbus, OH. Teaching would be a lifelong vocation that would take her to schools all over the country in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Tennessee, and Colorado. She was a well-loved educator, teaching with patience and positivity. In Atlanta, she taught for many years at both Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic School and Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School, where she reworked and formalized the Support Services Program in the late 1990s. Barb was also a teacher of teachers, mentoring countless colleagues over the years.

At home, Barb and Bob became parents to three children (Beth Bafundo Dickerson (Lance), Jennifer Bafundo Cahill (Sebastian), and Michael Robert Bafundo (Lauren)) in the early 1980s. Barb was a loving and present mother, attending every soccer game, science fair, and school play, and often helping with homework and school projects around the kitchen table. Barb was a great teacher, but she was a better mom, always putting her family first. “It doesn’t matter where we go, as long as we’re together,” she reassured her children on the long move to Atlanta in 1993. And she was right.

In her retirement, Barb was an active tennis player and doting grandmother, often creating fun science experiments in the back yard and playing long and raucous UNO games with her seven grandchildren.

Barb is survived by her husband, children and their spouses, grandchildren, siblings, brothers- and sisters-in-law, and a loving group of life-long friends.

A funeral mass is scheduled for April 19, 2024 at 11 AM at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Brookhaven, GA. A celebration of life will follow at 1 PM at the Country Club of Roswell. Please let the family know if you plan to attend the celebration of life.

In lieu of flowers, the family has asked for donations to the Barbara Bafundo Support Services Scholarship Fund at Our Lady of the Assumption School Give Now – Catholic Foundation of North Georgia – Serving Greater Atlanta http://cfnga.org/give/?_sf_s=bafundo