Barbara graduated from Lancaster Central High School in 1970 and received her AAS in Secretarial Sciences from ECC in 1972. Upon graduation Barbara was recruited by the Eastman Kodak company in Rochester, NY. Barbara started her career there as an executive secretary in the product planning division. She later returned to Buffalo working at MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Assoc) as the Office Manager. Barbara and her family moved to Bradford, PA after a short stay in Steamburg, NY and started a new experience working as a talented artist with the Helen Hume Company. Soon after, Barbara started her own commercial art business and was very successful, even getting some of her work into Disney gift shops. When her eldest daughter was pregnant with her first child in Boston, Barbara and her husband moved from Bradford to New Hampshire to be closer to them. At the age of 60 she reinvented herself yet again, and became a realtor, rapidly gaining clients and sold over 25 homes in just a few years. She kept herself very busy balancing her business, raising and loving her two daughters and keeping her husband in line. Barbara loved her Bradford book club, her Bradford friends and the Welcome Wagon social life.
Barbara was passionate about her gardens and often spent hours perfecting her landscaping. She loved the ocean, swimming in her pool, kayaking and her two-mile hikes. An enthusiastic traveler, she loved investigating her surroundings and her trips to Orleans, Cape Cod, Italy and the mountains of Bradford and Peterborough. Barbara was an avid reader and enormously enjoyed the monthly LitWits book club meetings and discussions.
Although she wore many hats, Barbara found her true calling as a grandmother. She loved spoiling her grandchildren as their Gigi. They looked forward to her visits as she typically had a little surprise gift and would do whatever they wanted for as long as she was there. Barbara was always a willing participant when the grandkids wanted to play board games, UNO, drawing and Lego competitions, or any game that would evoke her competitive spirit. Throughout COVID, she would FaceTime them every day for hours, just talking, telling jokes, or just patiently listening to them play. She was proud of their achievements and reveled in sharing those events with friends and relatives. Barbara was often their first call after hard life events like braces, immunization shots, or losing a tooth, greeting them by saying, “Oh, my poor baby doll!” She will be achingly missed by them forever.
In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by her brother, Kenneth L. Reitmeier Jr.
Barbara is survived by her beloved husband, Robert Bluhm, daughter, Jessica (Bluhm) Noble, spouse Griff Noble and grandchildren, Phin, Dagne and Jack and daughter Jill (Bluhm) Craig, spouse Tim Craig and the twin grandchildren, Olivia and Max.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Barbara’s memory to Brigham and Women's Hospital at this link.
https://giving.brighamandwomens.org
Services will be at a later date.
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