Barbara Easterling passed away peacefully Sept. 20, 2024, at the Ben Hur Home, with her family at her side.
She was the only child of Marie and Thomas Albert Haynes, and grew up near Detroit, where she married her high school sweetheart, Vernon. She and Vern and their four small children moved to Crawfordsville in 1962.
Vern was a physics professor at Wabash College, and Barb was an active member of the college community as well. She managed the college bookstore for a number of years and then took a position at the college library, where she was a bedrock presence for decades. She was a second Mom to many students who recognized in her a kind confidante with whom anything could be shared without fear of judgment or reproach.
She was passionate about community service. As a long time member of the League of Women Voters, she worked tirelessly to promote engagement in civic life. St. John’s Episcopal Church was her spiritual home, where she was a stalwart member of the congregation and spent countless hours in leadership positions.
Her curiosity knew no bounds. She was a voracious reader, a lover of classical music, and a devoted gardener. She and Vern were inveterate travelers and they passed on their enthusiasm for exploring the world to their children and grandchildren. Summers in the 1970s found the whole family packed into the station wagon for six-week camping trips to state and national parks throughout the West. She and Vern traveled far and wide, but they found perhaps their greatest tranquility in two decades of summers spent at Crystal Lake in northern Michigan with their daughter Susan, her husband Brian, and grandchildren Kristen and Jackson.
Most of all she was a loving and beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and cherished friend to many. Her husband Vern died in 2019. She is survived by her children, Doug and his wife Lucinda, Mark and his wife Marilyn, Ken and his husband Diego, Susan and her husband Brian, grandchildren Jason and his wife Stacey, Kristen and her husband Dom, and Jackson and his wife Faith, and three great-grandchildren. All who knew her will feel her loss deeply and will recall with joy her presence in their lives.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 28 at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Crawfordsville.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to The Nature Conservancy (preserve.nature.org) or St. John’s Episcopal Church.
Online condolences and memories may be shared at www.huntandson.com.
