Barbara B. Mack, of Indiana, died on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023, at St. Andrew’s Village.
She was born on Feb. 20, 1927, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, UT, as the daughter of Dr. Charles Bishop Beymer and Sybil Rowena Clara Jellison Beymer.
At two years of age, Barbara and her family moved to Oakley, ID, a Mormon farming settlement. Three years later, the family moved to Twin Falls, ID, where she graduated from Twin Falls High School in 1945. She attended Colorado College for three years until transferring to Stanford University for her senior year, graduating with a fine arts degree in 1949.
After graduation, Barbara moved to the “big city” of San Francisco to be an apprentice in a framing shop. She lived in a one-room apartment on Russian Hill. In 1951, Barb went to work for Gump’s department store and rented an apartment for $31 a month with the view of Alcatraz Island.
Later that year, she met a dashing young soldier named Joseph Newlin Mack from McKeesport, who was on a three day leave prior to his deployment in occupied Japan. On their 21st day together, after exchanging numerous letters, they were married in Twin Falls, ID on Aug. 17, 1952. They took their honeymoon in Sun Valley, ID and Niagara Falls, NY.
The young couple then moved to Cambridge, MA, where Joe attended Harvard Law School while Barbara worked at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
After Joe’s graduation from law school in 1955, they moved to Indiana into a South 9th Street apartment. In that year, Joe entered a preceptorship with Attorney J. Millard Frye. Joe and Barb started their family which included the birth of their son Paul in 1956, Jonathan in 1957, Melinda in 1960 and Bethel in 1964.
Barbara later resumed her education and achieved a master’s degree in English Literature from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1970.
During her lifetime, Barbara had a passion for the arts. She became an accomplished watercolorist and weaver. She traveled to Bhutan to learn the ancient art of weaving, including manufacturing her own dyes and mordants and spinning her own yarn. Barbara earned a reputation as the area’s “matron of the arts.” She became a world traveler with an insatiable interest in the arts, literature, architecture, history, world culture and food. Over the years, she and Joe compiled a wonderful collection of antiques and fine art. She was affectionately known to her family as the “Culture Vulture.”
Barbara was known for her interest in “high fashion.” She was routinely seen wearing her signature chandelier earrings, wild and colorful bohemian clothing, huge designer eyeglasses and short spiked hair. She enjoyed great food, better wine and the best champagne.
Barbara was active in her community, having served on boards of the Indiana Arts Council, University Museum, Touchstone Center for the Arts, Southern Alleghenies Museum and Coalition for Christian Outreach. She was also a deacon at Graystone Presbyterian Church.
She is survived by her sister, Cathy; her brother, “Bish”; her three children and their spouses, Paul (Suzanne), Jonathan (Kathleen) and Bethel (Todd); and five granddaughters, Amy, Natalie, MacGregor, Katie and Keely.
Barbara was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Joe, her sister Jacqueline, her daughter Melinda and her grandson, Connor.
Honoring Barbara’s wishes, there will be no viewing or service. Robinson-Lytle-Shoemaker Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements.
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