Barbara N. Farr passed away on Sunday, March 25, 2012 at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital. She was born on December 27, 1923 in Toronto, Ontario to Hermine Harrietta Gertrude (Van Balkom) and Wilfred Ross Bole. Her mother was a nurse in the Canadian Red Cross during WWI while her father served in France. Subsequently he returned to Toronto to marry and work in the National Drug and Chemical Company, which his father had founded.

Barbara attended Loretto Abbey in Toronto, and Trafalgar School for secondary education after her family moved to Montreal. After studying art at Sir George Williams College, Barbara became Junior Fashion Coordinator at Holt Renfrew and illustrated newspaper ads.

Winter weekends were spent skiing in the Laurentian Mountains, and when a friend brought home a group of fellow Dartmouth College students, Barbara met Wallace, her future husband, on the slopes. After graduation he enlisted in the Coast Guard, and they were married on November 20, 1943, in Westmount, Quebec.

After Wallace's military discharge in 1946, the couple built a home in Bradford, Vermont, where he joined the family wood veneers business. Barbara immersed herself in family life; she loved children and led a Brownie troop. She also taught skiing in the Hanover Ford Sayre program, continuing after the family moved to Hanover, N.H. in 1963. Barbara volunteered many years at Mary Hitchcock, and enjoyed originating the circulating art cart. She served a term as President of the Auxiliary and on the Board of Trustees, concurrently with her husband, who chaired the Budget Committee. In middle age, Barbara and Wallace delighted in traveling together.

Barbara's greatest joy was in her friends and family, and her effervescent grace and warm affectionate nature filled her house with happiness. She cherished an exceptionally close marriage and was an unstinting, generous mother. Barbara's grandchildren were nurtured by her unconditional love, and her home was always open to them. In fact, she would have preferred to keep three generations under her roof. Her hospitable instinct persevered to the end of her life. She bore years of diminishing health with humor and forbearance, speaking less and less of herself and leaving her family a legacy of courage.

Barbara is survived by her sister, Beverly Larkin of Collingwood, Ontario, her daughter, Sherrill Robinson and husband, Jerome, of Lyme, N.H., grandson Matthew of Chicago, Ill., granddaughter Katherine Yarbrough, husband, Finn, and two great-grandsons of Ferrisburg, Vermont, and numerous nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband, Wallace, a sister, Virginia, and her parents.

Her family wishes to express their gratitude to Wheelock Terrace for the compassion and loving care which Barbara and Wallace enjoyed in their last year, to the outstanding staff at Mary Hitchcock who supported and cared for Barbara, and to Hospice.

A joint memorial service for Barbara and Wallace will be held on Saturday, May 5, at the Norwich Congregational Church. Memorial contributions may be made to Visiting Nurse & Hospice of Vermont and New Hampshire, PO Box 976, White River Junction, Vt. 05001.