Obituary of Barbara A. Earle

Barbara ("Bobbie") Aymar Earle passed away at the Essex Meadows retirement community in Essex, Connecticut on December 10, 2014. She was 89 years old and died peacefully in the company of her five children. Barbara was born in New York City on January 1, 1925, the daughter of Gordon Aymar, a noted illustrator and portrait painter, and Margaretta Aymar, a civic leader. She attended The Thomas School in Rowayton, CT, and Barnard College and the Julliard School of Music in New York City. She played the harp professionally for a short time before marrying Harry W. Earle, of Norwalk, Connecticut in 1944 upon his return from Air Force service in Europe during WW II. She devoted the next 30 years to raising her family, to civic activities, and to writing. She co-founded Person-to-Person, the Connecticut-based volunteer organization that provides clothing, food and other necessities to those in need. She also spent many years as a hospice volunteer, the organization that assisted her during the final days of her life. More than forty years after she first started college, she returned to earn her Bachelor of Science degree, graduating summa cum laude from the University of Wisconsin/Oshkosh in 1983 at the age of 58 with a major in human services and a minor in music. "Give Us This Day," a book of her poems will be published in 2015. Barbara is remembered for her love of life, music, gardening and poetry, her devotion to family and friends, and for her deep and lasting influence on the communities where she lived. Her daughters, Penryhn Cook and Barbara Ballard; her sons, David, John and Gordon; and her sister Carol Armstrong survive her. She was the proud grandmother of eleven grandchildren and one great granddaughter: Katherine Guzman, Matthew and Jonathan Earle, Geoffrey Bailey, Joby and Derry Earle, Margaret and Harry Kaplan-Earle, Gordon Earle, Benjamin and Emily Ballard, and Naima Guzman. She is predeceased by her brother, Gordon Aymar, Jr. and by Harry Earle, her husband of 56 years. A memorial service will be held at The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme on January 17th at 2pm. The address is 4 Lyme Street, (Corner of Lyme Street and Ferry Road) Old Lyme, CT. A reception will follow the service. Memorial donations may be made to Middlesex Hospice & Palliative Care, located at 28 Crescent Street, Middletown, CT 06457, or Person-to Person, located at 1864 Post Road, Darien, CT 06820. To share a memory of Barbara or send a condolence to her family please visit www.rwwfh.com . Arrangements by the Robinson, Wright and Weymer Funeral Home in Centerbrook.