Barbara Janet (Dingle) Rich
September 28, 1929 – March 31, 2018
After a long welcome “home” hug from husband Russell, Mom is “meeting” her old neighborhood friends Claire, Beverly and Mary T for coffee just like they did so many times on Darlene Circle. She left to meet up with them after dying of complications from a mild stroke.
Her parents were Frank and Elizabeth Belle (Orben) Dingle. They raised Mom and her younger and equally delightful sister Catherine in Wakefield and North Reading MA.
Barbara married Russell Peter Rich on February 19, 1950 and they were loyal through thick and thin until Russell’s death in 2005. They bought their own home in Tewksbury in 1955. Together they raised their four terrific children: Russ, Deb, Jody and Lisa. Through life’s trials and tribulations, Barbara chose to laugh through most of them. She always urged her kids to go out and try something new or to travel. “You can always come back home,” she’d say.
Barbara was always on the go. During the child rearing years she took ceramics classes and attended Adult Ed classes to learn how to whittle.
Mom became a licensed beautician in 1967, practicing on Deb and Jody, who got to go to school looking sophisticated and worldly the next day. Barbara served as a Crossing Guard for the Tewksbury Police Department for several years. She squeezed in earning her GED the same week Jody graduated from high school, in 1974. Finally, Mom worked and retired from Haffner’s Gas Station in 1995. She’d been one of their cashiers at the Main Street station in Tewksbury.
When she felt old enough, the Tewksbury Senior Center became a daily part of Barbara’s life. Classes in sign language, yoga, line dancing, clogging, tap dancing, tole painting, ‘light’ scene painting, painting on sweatshirts and quilting kept her heart, mind and body active. She made a quilt for each of her kids and many of her grandchildren. Singing in the chorus and dancing in the talent shows were especially happy times.
While at the Senior Center, Barbara was a Carnation Belle, a chapter of the Red Hat Society. She posed in a few months of their fund raising 2007 Calendar Girl calendar. Going on trips arranged by her best friend Rose McKenna were a highlight. Boarding a plane to Italy on her 70th birthday was a spectacular event. The annual trip to the Mt. Washington Hotel in New Hampshire was something to look forward to. During those years, youngest daughter Lisa was always nearby in Lowell. Calling Lisa to invite herself over for one of son-in-law Don’s grilled hotdogs was a call to action and a treat for everyone, particularly grandchildren Jenna and Jamie.
After Russell passed, Barbara and Rose went to their beloved Villages in Florida for a month for each of the next five years. She and Rose were always laughing hysterically about something….sometimes nothing. Oldest child Russ and his wife Mary were there to guide them when they got lost in their golf cart. Those were always invigorating vacations for Mom and Rose.
Barbara moved to Waterville, Maine in 2012 after living in Tewksbury became too much of an effort. She’s been able to share life and laughter with grand-daughters Elise and Elizabeth along with Elizabeth’s four boys. Barbara did her part in Elise’s pizzeria rolling silverware and making pizza boxes. Even in her eighties, Barbara enjoyed being a part of things.
Moving into assisted living at Sunset Home for (Wild) Women, Mom still wanted to learn. She began to play the ukulele. She asked a few of the French-speaking gals to teach her French, too. Spending evenings with Deb, watching Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy while sharing a Klondike bar was a ritual that calmed and reassured Barbara that she could go to sleep knowing all was well.
Barbara was predeceased by her parents and husband of fifty-five years. Missing Mom’s laughter and singing are her four children Russ and wife Mary Rich of Belleview, Florida, Deb Rich of Waterville, Maine, Jody and her wife Rosemary Winslow of Waterville, Maine and Lisa Carriere Armstrong of Tyngsboro, MA. Grandchildren include Suzanne, Jennifer, Amanda, David Aaron, Naomi, Elizabeth, Elise, Jenna and Jamie. Great grandchildren were cherished. Great Nana Rich marveled at each new baby and the true miracles they were.
She also leaves behind her lovely and loyal sister Catherine Dingle Zwicker of Tewksbury, and her friends Rose McKenna and Muriel Coleman both living in Tewksbury.
Barbara wasn’t interested in a serious or somber funeral. She suggested that everyone go out to eat and share stories. If you want, please send donations to the Tewksbury Senior Center in her name so that others might have as much fun as she had. Remember to sing, laugh, eat good food and try new things.