Barbara Cruciger Roper

Barbara Cruciger Roper passed away peacefully in the early morning of March 7th, 2022, in her home on Lake Butler where she’d lived for nearly 72 years. Barbara was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on New Year’s Eve 1928, where she attended the Ellis School, later graduating from Penn State as one of the first women with a BA Degree in Economics.

While in college Barbara met native Orange County resident Bert Roper (deceased 2012), who was doing graduate work for his Master’s Degree at the University of Pittsburgh. Barbara’s four children (Becky, Edward, Preston, Charlie) were always told that Bert’s lab work involved the study of how oranges breathe, though we believe the study of an attractive Pittsburgh socialite may actually have taken priority. While meeting first on a blind date, Barbara says she knew immediately that she would marry Bert, doing so in 1950 amidst one of Pittsburgh’s most severe blizzards on record. The guestlist of over 500 saw just two dozen actually make it to the ceremony, followed by decades of snowstorm stories from friends and relatives. After marrying, she moved to Winter Garden, then a town of about 2,100 people.

Barbara described herself as a Yankee who had married the most eligible bachelor in town; further clarifying that doing so did not make her a popular resident during her first years in Winter Garden. Bert’s family moved to Central Florida in 1857 and grew vegetables and citrus, with Bert becoming a leader in the Florida citrus industry. Both he and Barbara emerged as long-time volunteers and community philanthropists.

It was a challenge for Barbara to learn about Central Florida and a life very different from the cultured Big City in which she had grown up. Barbara learned to handle guns, hunting for squirrels that ate her quavas, snakes hiding under the dock, and other Florida critters, not the least of which was an armadillo she cooked into a stew and served to the family, only later telling the kids that what they’d eaten was not chicken. While the kids were young Barbara also took it upon herself to hunt down a Lake Butler alligator that had unkindly consumed one of the family’s bird dogs - she gathered her trusty 22-gauge rifle, shot that gator dead, got it to the taxidermist, and hung it up in the house for show (it’s still in our camp next door).

When Barbara was not honing her Floridian skills she taught first grade at the original Tildenville School for several years before Bert and she started their family of four children. Her service to the community began as a founding member of the West Orange Junior Service League and served as President in 1957. After the kids became a bit older, Barbara decided she did not want to go back to teaching in the school; however, she was always very active in Central Florida, putting her pedagogical skills to work in teaching adults how to read - starting the Adult Literacy League in Orlando, using the Laubach Literacy “Each One Teach One” method. Barbara became a certified volunteer tutor trainer for Laubach Literacy, traveling across the United States and Canada starting Literacy Councils and serving as a Trustee for Laubach Literacy International based in Syracuse, New York. Barbara taught workshops on listening skills and dealing with difficult people - lifelong skills useful in raising her four vocal children, negotiating with her strong-willed husband, managing companies, and leading within a multitude of organizations and boards.

In the ‘60s, Bert purchased an OpenRoad truck-camper which the family used for trips back and forth across the country and Canada, including a summer trip to Alaska on the gravel Alcan Highway. It’s a testament to Barbara’s love of Bert that she endured those trips, and a tribute to both of them that the family learned to coexist in tight, stressful spaces together. While starting our periodic search for 26-cent-a-gallon gas, a frequent scream from Barbara was: “who forgot to lock the refrigerator door!!!?”, followed by extensive food spills in the camper.

Barbara soon learned more relaxed means of travel and developed a passion for adventure, eventually leading her to start a travel agency, Tops-N-Travel, in Winter Garden which she owned, often personally operated, and served as President of for 18 years. Whenever one of their 9 grandchildren turned 13, Bert and Barbara hosted a trip to wherever the new teenager wanted to go. Through the years, they traveled with their grandchildren to Alaska, Africa, Galapagos, Tahiti, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, Belize and Costa Rica.

In 1967 Barbara was asked to join the board of the Central Florida YMCA, representing West Orange County. She and colleagues were instrumental in starting the West Orange YMCA in 1971. Today that Y is called the Roper YMCA in Winter Garden and is part of the 23 family centers operated by the Central Florida YMCA. Her work on the Central Florida Y was preceded by her interest in sending her kids to summer camp, subsequently Camp Wewa, her favorite location to offload the four kids each summer. When Barbara expressed interest in joining the Wewa board, the chairman at the time instead called Bert asking if he’d like to join. Anyone who knows Barbara will immediately understand that was a big mistake: while Bert, to his credit, clarified that it was Barbara who should be on the board, Barbara ‘took names’ and thereafter made it abundantly clear who was in charge.

Due to her continuing interest in the YMCA, both in Florida and nationally, Barbara was elected the chairman of the national board of the YMCA of the USA in 1991, the first woman in the Y’s history to hold the position and served a two-year term presiding over the first Y National Assembly in Anaheim, CA. For many years, Barbara was the only woman to head that 16 million-member not-for-profit association. For 8 years Barbara also represented the YMCA of the USA on the Executive Committee of the World Alliance of YMCAs, based in Geneva Switzerland. During those years with the YMCA of the USA Barbara traveled extensively, representing both the YMCA of the USA as well as the World Alliance of YMCAs, visiting well over 50 countries where YMCA’s are established. At the 2019 General Assembly, Barbara was inducted into the National YMCA Hall of Fame for a lifetime of commitment to the mission and cause of the Y.

Along the way Barbara was asked to join the board of the newly-established public broadcasting station (WMFE) in Orlando where she served as the first woman to chair that board in 1970 and 1971. She was elected to the national board of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in 1972 and served on that board for 11 years.

In Central Florida Barbara served on the board of various civic and not-for-profit organizations such as Loch Haven Museum, Eckerd College, Community Foundation of Central Florida, National Safety Council, First National Bank of Winter Park, Blue Ridge Assembly, Winter Garden Heritage Foundation, and Health Central Foundation.

Barbara Roper’s journey with Valencia College is long and purposeful. She and her family supported the creation of Valencia college to ensure everyone had the opportunity to attend college in her beloved West Orange community. She was deeply involved in nursing and other programs that provided clear pathways for women to enter and be successful in the workforce. Barbara holds the distinction of Trustee Emeritus of the Valencia College Foundation for her longtime service to the Foundation Board, college mission and community.

Beginning in 2003, Barbara opened doors to her extensive philanthropic network such that, as daughter Becky says, she could “share a crazy story” of their joint vision of bringing performing arts and entertainment to their small town. In doing so, Barbara was instrumental in the formation of the Garden Theatre in Winter Garden’s rejuvenated historic downtown, where she is recognized as a Founding Member and Emeritus Trustee. The theater opened in record time in 2008, bringing a bit of Barbara’s big-town Pittsburgh to Central Florida.

Barbara received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Piedmont College as well as other recognitions.

She passed away peacefully in the early morning of March 7th, 2022, in her home on Lake Butler. Her extensive family includes Becky (Michael Soucy), Edward (Erin), Preston (Katie), and Charles (Karen). Grandchildren: Chase Stafford (Kate Melting-Miller) & Sadie Stafford, Bryce & Bennet Roper, Ellen & Gregory Roper, Sutton, Renee & Faye Roper.

Join us for Stories, Songs and Spirits on May 7, 2022 upstairs in Pilars Loft at the Roper Garden Building, 146 W. Plant Street, Suite 210 Winter Garden from 2-5p – just the kind of celebration Barbara would have enjoyed – a gathering of friends, laughter and celebration of a life well lived.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be directed in Barbara’s name to a few of the organizations that she cherished:

Valencia Community College: https://valencia.org/donate/

Central Florida YMCA: https://ymcacf.org/community/advocatespotlight/barbararoper/

Garden Theatre Inc: https://www.gardentheatre.org/big-fundraiser-2021/