Barbara Allan Lawrence

Barbara Allan Lawrence, nee Raynolds, nicknamed Rayn, died peacefully in her home on December 28. She was born on September 21, 1931, in the borough of Manhattan, to Marguerite and Robert Raynolds of Newtown.

She married David Nickerson Lawrence of Savannah, Ga., in 1952. They lived in Germany, Mexico, and various states in the United States before settling, in 1964, in North Salem, N.Y., where she lived until her death. Her husband died on March 28, 1995, after a brief illness.

Mrs Lawrence is survived by her four children: Jonathan Gordon Lawrence of Sandy Hook, Susan Ann Lawrence of Lexington, Ky., Catherine Patricia Lawrence of Grand Rapids, Mich., and Grace Martina Kinzie Lawrence of Humbird, Wis. She is also survived by her elder brother, David Raynolds, of Lander, Wyo., and her elder sister, Ann Listokin, of Winston-Salem, N.C.

She was a graduate of Putney School in Putney, Vt., attended Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., through her junior year, and was graduated in 1952 from Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., with a BA in philosophy and Russian.

A lifelong advocate of education, she continued her own after marriage, attending the American Institute for Foreign Trade, now called the Thunderbird School of Foreign Studies in Phoenix, Ariz. In 1972, she was awarded an MS in education by Western Connecticut State College, completed teacher certification, and taught English at the Robert E. Bell School in Chappaqua, N.Y., for 26 years. After retiring in 1996, she became certified to tutor students in preparation for the SAT tests, an activity she continued until the week before her death.

Mrs Lawrence was an avid reader, rock hound, lapidarist, and silversmith, spending a large part of every summer traveling across the United States with her husband David in a small pickup truck that she had outfitted as a camper. In the winter, she cataloged, polished, and designed settings for the minerals, crystals, and stones she had collected, selling them at local craft shows. Her favorite hunting grounds were Thunder Bay, Ont., Herkimer, N.Y., Franklin, N.C., and the Carlton/Cloquet area of Minnesota.

Her community and social activities included: aiding in the inception of the adult education program in North Salem, N.Y., working with the League of Women Voters, scouting, participating in various capacities in local amateur dramatic productions, working at the Saint James Episcopal Church annual auction, cooking, entertaining, and volunteering at Mercy College.

As a child and teenager, she received professional training in both piano and voice. Once settled in North Salem, she sang in the Bedford madrigal group for years, and in the choir of Saint James Episcopal Church. She was a devoted grandmother (Baba) and will be missed by all, including her daughter-in-law, Diane, and her six grandchildren, Daniel Nickerson, Hannah Catherine, Caroline Elizabeth, Elisabeth Marie, Alexandra Nicole, and David Gordon.

A memorial service will be held at Saint James Episcopal Church in North Salem, N.Y., on Saturday, January 10, at 2 pm. A reception will be held at her home immediately following the service. Contributions in her memory may be sent to the North Salem Ambulance Corps or the North Salem Free Library Building Fund.

The Newtown Bee        January 9, 2004