Patricia Wallum Barber

Patricia Wallum Barber (Pat, Tricie, P, Luzzo, Mom, Mimama) was born May 31, 1936 and passed away peacefully on May 13, 2021. She grew up in Union City, New Jersey, attending Catholic schools and graduating from Saint Elizabeth University. She was whisked away to Texas by the love of her life, Will Barber, whom she met through her brother while he was attending Harvard Law School. As a Southern gentleman, Will knew that you shouldn’t date your best friend’s sister, but after meeting Pat, he decided that Harry wasn’t a good enough friend to pass up his dream girl. They married on June 28, 1958 and began creating their very special Barber family.

While Pat was the very center of our family, it became a circle that rippled far beyond us. One of our childhood friends said it perfectly: “She was the first adult who ever really listened to me, and treated me like someone who mattered, and that stuck with me throughout my lifetime.” She had a unique ability to know you for who you are meant to be, so that you would know yourself in a way you could never forget. She was compassionate, wise, and irreverently funny – her motto was “nothing sacred and no one spared”. She was quite simply a force of nature. The world is a much better place, and will never be the same, for the difference she made in so many lives. We are better spouses, partners, parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, family, friends, and people because of her modeling true love, relationship, and connection for us.

Among Pat’s many accomplishments, she was a substitute school teacher at St. Austin’s Catholic Church and Director of Religious Education. Fluent in both German and French, she also mastered the Texas drawl while never losing her native Jersey (joi-zee) accent. She was active and took on leadership roles in self-improvement work like est and Contegrity. She served on the Sunset Valley City Council and the Wilderness Streams HOA board. Skilled in the art of knitting, she created literal works of art sold at specialty boutiques and private trunk shows. She authored a book, Sharing, A Practice for Family Connection, published in 2006, which captures a practice she and Will developed and cultivated in which she would pick a meaningful topic for us to thoughtfully share about to make our family that much closer and connected.

We know that Mom’s spirit abides and she has joined her husband and eternal soulmate, as well as her beloved grandsons, Baby William Barber and Paden Castles Kelley in the spirit. She leaves behind her four children and their spouses (whom she loved as her own): Mary Beth and Scott Kelley, Bill and Melinda Barber, Jack and Malia Barber, and Katy and Robert Agnor, as well as the pride of her life, her special grandchildren and their spouses: Kathryn (Kat) Kelley, Robyn and Matt Bell, Elyse Barber, Melynn Barber, Meg and Andy Godwin, and Jaclyn Barber.

We will always, always be grateful to have had her at the center of our lives and the example of how to live as our best selves. A celebration of her life, and her life with Will, will be held in Austin Texas at the Brodie Homestead on June 8 at 2:30PM, and at their Gunnison, Colorado home (1142 Sioux Rd) on July 7 at 2PM. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Paden Castles Kelley Memorial Ski Scholarship, by visiting www.crestedbuttesnowsports.com/donate/ and selecting Paden Castles Kelley Memorial Scholarship; the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center in Divide, Colorado; or a charity of your choice. Namaste.

Namaste.