Dover-----Barbara (Twombly) Redington died May 12, 2011 at Langdon Place, Dover, NH, where she had lived for seven years. She was 95. Her husband of seventy years, Dana Stearns Redington, and her oldest son, Robert, predeceased her.
Barbara Edith Twombly was born December 2, 1915 in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, to Edith and Ellsworth Twombly. She was the youngest of five children. A 1933 graduate of St. Johnsbury Academy, she attended Simmons College in Boston for two years. After attending Simmons, she began her lifelong love of flowers by working at the James Burns Florist company in St. Johnsbury. In the fall of 1936, she enrolled in a post-graduate year at St. Johnsbury Academy taking secretarial classes, where she met and subsequently married Dana Redington, a first-year science teacher at the school.
Lifelong teachers, the Redingtons moved to Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, NH, then to Burr and Burton Seminary in, Manchester, VT. While living in Manchester, Mrs. Redington began a nursery school in her home in 1949 and spent summers tutoring Academy students. In 1951, the family moved to California, to live and teach at Cate School, an independent school for boys. Mrs. Redington enrolled in classes at the University of California, Santa Barbara, obtained a teaching certificate and began teaching in the Carpinteria, California, schools. A woman of many talents, she taught Latin, remedial mathematics and Home Economics. She later taught third grade for several years at the Crane School in Montecito, CA. She ended her working career in various secretarial positions at Cate School in Carpinteria, California, and then at St. James Church in Laconia, NH.
In Laconia, Mrs. Redington was a member of the Congregational Church where she was an active participant in the life of the church. She became well known for her abilities as a seamstress, and with her husband, tended a large garden, sharing produce with friends, family and with the Laconia Food Co-op. She and Mr. Redington moved to Concord in 1992 where they attended South Congregational Church. She did a lot of behind the scenes work to help with the editing of Home Devotions, a monthly publication for people who were unable to attend church.
Mrs. Redington shared her love of swimming, tennis and the natural world with her children and grandchildren. She is survived by her son, Richard Redington, and his wife, Caroline, of Chautauqua, New York, her daughter, Katherine Redington Morgan, of Durham, NH, five grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
The family will hold a private celebration of her life.
Burial in Manchester, VT, will take place later in the summer.
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia, N.H. is assisting the family. For more information and to view an online memorial go to www.wilkinsonbeane.com.