Barbara Ann (Baker) Weber
Obituary
Barbara Ann (Baker) Weber was born on March 16, 1936, in Manila, Philippines, to Norene McDevitt Baker and Robert Louis Baker, a Naval Officer deployed in the Pacific. Barbara spent the first years of her life in Chefoo (now Yantai), China. From China, the family moved to Colorado, then Kentucky, where Barbara's sister, Nancy, was born, and finally to Arizona. Following her mother's second marriage to George Bock, Barbara and her family moved to Orange County, California, where she graduated from the San Juan Capistrano High School in 1954.
She obtained a nursing degree from Orange County General Hospital, where she met and fell in love with Arnold Robert Weber, a medical resident at the hospital and father of two children. Barbara and Arnold were married on July 13, 1957, in Las Vegas, Nevada, and at 21, Barbara became a mother to Meri Laurel, 9, and Jon Preston, 4. Barbara and Arnold had four more children together: Robert Joseph, Catherine Louise, Ann Margaret, and Elisabeth Dianne. In 1971, they left Southern California with the 4 youngest children for an adventure that took Barbara to Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Dakar, Senegal; Manila, the Philippines; London, England; Tunis, Tunisia; Belgrade, Yugoslavia; and Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic. In 1990, Barbara and Arnold returned to the US, and made their home in Watsonville, California. In 1995, Barbara obtained a BA in American Studies, from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
She died on September 25, 2019, in Watsonville, California, at the age of 83, nearly 10 years after the death of her husband, Arnold.
She is survived by her sister, Nancy, and Nancy's husband, Wayne Huber; 5 of her children – Jon, Robert, Cathy, Ann and Liz – and their spouses – Kathy, Rose Ann, Andy Siegel, Karl Pope, and Tom Kellar; 10 grandchildren, and 8 great-grandchildren.
Should friends desire, the family suggests sending memorial contributions to Planned Parenthood.
Published in The Pajaronian · November 13, 2019