Barbara Baber

Barbara Denzil Hudgens Baber, 81, passed away in her sleep at home in her bed on June 15, 2015. There will be a memorial service for Barbara at the Piersall Chapel on June 27 at 11:00 a.m. The arrangements are being handled by Piersall Funeral Directors, 733 Butternut Street, Abilene, Texas.

Barbara was born in Petty, Texas on January 29, 1934 to Barney Collins Hudgens and Jewel Frances Yeager. She married James Edward Baber on June 1, 1956 in Dallas, Texas. She gave birth to a son, Stephen, in 1957 as well as a daughter, Shelia, in 1961.

Barbara was a 1954 graduate of Texas A & M University in Commerce with a Bachelors degree in Education. She added to that with a Master's degree in Elementary Teaching from Abilene Christian University on August 21, 1969. She continued to study at A.C.U. from 1970-72 where she received a Certification in Reading Supervision. In 1988 she began working on her PhD in Education Administration from Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

Her career arc began as a 3rd grade teacher in Longview I.S.D. immediately upon her college graduation in the fall of 1954. Next year she moved to Dallas I.S.D. where she taught 4th Grade Math and Reading from 1955-58. Then, in 1964 she became employed with Abilene I.S.D. as a 4th grade teacher at Bonham Elementary from 1964-76. She moved into the teaching position at the Planetarium in 1976, then becoming the Director in 1992 until her retirement in 2001.

Barbara received numerous educational recognition throughout her years in Abilene I.S.D. Ms. Baber was selected to host the conference for all the southwestern states of planetarium directors at McDonald Observatory in 1988. She was awarded the H. Rich Calvird Award for outstanding professionalism for her service in the planetarium education field in 1989, then elected president of SWAP (the Southwestern Association of Planetarium Directors) that same year. She taught after-school science workshops for 4th and 5th grade teachers teachers in 1991-92. She was a Texas Elementary Science Inservice Program trainer in 1992, and also received a Fellowship Award from the International Planetarium Society in 1992. She conducted Geology and Astronomy worskshops for the Region 12 E.S.C. from 1989 until her health declined substantially in 2011. Her workshops always sold out, and teachers came back year after year to learn from the "rock lady." She traveled all over the world and at the end of her life confided to her son that she "had done and seen everything she had wanted to do."

Barbara was preceded in death by her parents, her husband James, and daughter, Shelia. She is survived by her son, Stephen of Abilene, a granddaughter, Kylie Rose Gonzalez of Austin, and daughter in law, Laura Gonzalez of Austin.

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at www.pbfuneraldirectors.com