Barbara Huffman
Barbara Ellen Winters Huffman, 83, breathed her last breath of earth’s air on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, and went home to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, finally achieving victory over the Alzheimer’s Disease she had endured for 22 years.
Although Alzheimer’s was a significant factor in the last quarter of her life, it did not define the first three quarters.
Barbara was born in Hagerstown, MD, on October 24, 1941, and grew up on a farm in Little Cove, PA, the oldest daughter of Otis and Dortha Winters. It is said that her daddy wished for a little girl with curls, and that’s exactly what he got. Barbara was joined by a brother Otis Lee and a sister Joyce.
Music was a big part of Barbara’s life as she grew up, and music brought her from the farm in Pennsylvania to Bridgewater College where she majored in music and graduated in 1963, delighting her listeners along the way with her clear soprano voice and capable fingers on the piano and organ keys.
While at Bridgewater, she met the love of her life, Dr. Harold Ezra Huffman, who survives. A conversation between Barbara and Harold in the snack shop after a Glee Club concert in which Barbara had a solo led to him walking her back to her dorm, and that led to a 61-year happy marriage, beginning at their wedding on June 9, 1963!
Early in their marriage, Barbara worked as a music teacher, first in the classroom, and then as a private piano teacher. But she was happy to lay down her teaching career to take up her true calling - Mother - when God blessed their marriage with four wonderful children. Caring for Donna, Doug, David, and Davene brought the deepest joy to Barbara, and she and Harold felt profound satisfaction as they watched their family increase as the children grew up, developed relationships, and added to the family through grandchildren, fifteen in all, and great-grandchildren, seven at the present and not stopping anytime soon!
Besides her role as wife, mother, and homemaker, Barbara also spent time playing the piano and organ for church services, weddings, and school functions. In addition, she loved to garden, growing vegetables and flowers and - evidence of her long-term vision - planting many trees. She cared about God’s creation and “was green before green was cool.”
In her empty-nest years, Barbara enjoyed participating in and hosting women’s Bible studies, as well as encouraging and inspiring young wives and moms through her example and her words.
Friends remember Barbara for her quick smile, her joyful spirit, her uncomplaining attitude, her hard work, her readiness to help others, her generosity, her peaceful acceptance in the face of a heart-wrenching diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, and her delicious grape pie.
During the last 11 years of her life, Barbara was part of Bridgewater Retirement Community where she found a nurturing home at first in Gardner House and then in Unity House. Her family wishes to give deepest thanks to all who cared so lovingly for her during her time at BRC.
Barbara faithfully, cheerfully, and sacrificially loved and followed God all through her life; and her dearest wish is that those of us who remain behind would realize how temporary our earthly existence is and how important it is to make Jesus the Lord of our lives. More than anything, Barbara desires to see you in heaven someday where all tears will be wiped away and we’ll never have to say goodbye.
If you would like to join Barbara’s family in honoring her memory, you may visit with the family on Friday, April 25, from 6:00 - 8:00 PM in Lantz Chapel at Bridgewater Retirement Community. Her memorial service will be held in Lantz Chapel on Saturday, April 26, at 2:00 PM. Jeff Fisher, minister at Acorn Christian Church, and Russ Barb, chaplain at Bridgewater Retirement Community, will officiate. All are welcome.
