Barbara Wiltshire Timmons

Bar­bara Wilt­shire Tim­mons, 80, passed away peace­fully on Sun­day (Sept. 23, 2012) after a long and coura­geous bat­tle with Mul­ti­ple Myeloma.

Barb was born on May 16, 1932, in Cleve­land to Edwin and Mar­gure­ite Mueller Wilt­shire. She received a B.F.A. in Fine Arts from Ohio Wes­leyan Uni­ver­sity in 1954; com­pleted grad­u­ate course­work in Art at Brown Uni­ver­sity, Rhode Island School of Design and St. Martin’s School of Arts in Lon­don; and obtained a Mas­ters in Edu­ca­tion from Mont­clair State Uni­ver­sity. A life­long teacher and learner, Barb taught high school Art and Eng­lish for more than 30 years. She was an advo­cate for oth­ers; she helped to start a pre-school for under­priv­i­leged chil­dren in Florida, pro­vided an art pro­gram for the Pri­mary School Ninos Heros de Cha­pul­te­pec in Guadalupe de Tam­bula and was active in the Civil Rights Move­ment. Barb received many awards for both her art­work and her teach­ing, includ­ing Pres­i­dent Ronald Reagan’s Award for Excel­lence in Teach­ing, Marie Walsh Sharpe Foun­da­tion Honor for Exem­plary Teach­ing and Artis­tic Excel­lence, first place in the Inter­na­tional Sculp­ture Com­pe­ti­tion advised by Henry Moore and Her­bert Read and the Ohio Wes­leyan Uni­ver­sity Alumni Award. Barb was always up for an adven­ture and set the exam­ple of how to squeeze as much out of life as pos­si­ble. She trav­eled exten­sively through Europe (two times on the back of a scooter), Thai­land, China, Hong Kong, Tai­wan, Aus­tralia, New Zealand, Tas­ma­nia, Mex­ico, Guatemala, Argentina, Belize, Chile, Egypt, Israel, Jor­dan and Japan. Her favorite place was Lake Dubourne Ontario, Canada. In the five years that she had can­cer, Barb stood on glac­i­ers in two dif­fer­ent hemi­spheres, had din­ner with a U.S. Pres­i­dent, swam with dol­phins and attended count­less dance per­for­mances, soc­cer and bas­ket­ball games, choir and band con­certs and any other oppor­tu­nity to cheer on her beloved granddaughters.

She is sur­vived by her hus­band of 59 years, Frank; daugh­ters, Poe (David Adler) Tim­mons and Jill (Patrick) Tim­mons Kennedy; sis­ters, Frances (Frank) Mah­ncke and Susan (Randy) Tied­man; brother, Harley (Linda) Wilt­shire; grand­daugh­ters, Larkin Kit­tel, Jil­lian Adler, and Neve Adler; and many extended fam­ily mem­bers and friends.

A cel­e­bra­tion of life will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. Sat­ur­day, Oct. 20, at the Ross Art Museum in Delaware.

In lieu of flow­ers, dona­tions may be made in Barb’s name to A Kid Again or the Richard M. Ross Art Museum Endowed Direc­tor­ship Fund.

Posted by Staff Reports Obits on Sep 25 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.