Barbara Ruth (Maynard) Gauthier

Barbara passed away on February 1, 2013 in Lompoc, California. She moved to Lompoc six years ago to be near the family that she loved.
Barbara was born in Templeton, Massachusetts on July 7, 1925 to the late Leon and Henrietta (Viner) Maynard in the family home at Baptist Common.

She graduated from the old Templeton High School in 1944 and joined the war effort working in a local foundry. It was here that she met her beloved husband Robert who was home on leave visiting his father at work. They were married 35 years until Robert's early death in 1981.

She worked for the New Hampshire Ball Bearing for six years, and then 18 years at Simplex Time Recorder Company in Gardner, Massachusetts.

Barbara loved music and dancing, taking tap from an early age and continuing well into her 70s with shows for the Gardner AARP. She and her husband loved to glide across the floor, and she continued to kick up her heels until shortly before her death attending dances at the Half Century Club in Lompoc. She enjoyed karaoke, and did a beautiful rendition of "Crazy" by Patsy Kline. She was on many candlepin bowling leagues in Gardner, and was an active member of the Ladies League of the First Church of Templeton, and the Templeton Golden Ages.

She was preceded in death by her siblings Walter Shafer, Mildred (Shafer) Hale, and Roger and Harold Maynard.

She leaves her son Edward of Albuquerque, New Mexico, daughters Susan Russell and Cindy Lee Gauthier of Lompoc, California, and her younger sister Nancy Leland of Templeton, Massachusetts. She had eight grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren with baby Otis Ito being born the day after her death.

A private celebration of life will be held in Lompoc. The funeral will be held at the Fletcher Hebert Funeral Home in Winchendon, Massachusetts in the spring. Burial will be in the family plot in Westminster, Massachusetts.
Memorial donations can be made to the First Church of Templeton, MA 01468.