Barbara A. Childs of Tryon, N.C. passed away Friday afternoon, Jan. 8, 2016 at her home.

Barbara was born Feb. 17, 1943 in Chicago, Ill. She was a graduate of the Dominican University in River Forest, Ill. Upon graduation, Barbara taught junior high English literature and high school history. She also taught classical Latin, medieval history and English at the Carolina Classical School in Columbus, N.C.

Barbara loved to ride dressage and she rode Bagheera to the US National Championships. She then went on to ride another FEI horse, In The Black, successfully through PSG. USDF champion Horse of the Year, Quest, was another FEI PSG hose she rode. Barbara served on the Illinois Dressage and Eventing Board for 11 years.

Barbara served on the St. Charles, Ill. board for the children’s department for two to three years. She also served at Lawrence Hall School for Boys (wards of the state) for 17 years.  The students were grateful for Barbara and she loved working with them. She was in the Corpus Christi Monastery in Rockford, Ill., a cloistered order, for one year.

Barbara loved riding, gardening and taking care of all of her animals (a canary, a cat, dogs, and horses). For the last three years she has ridden Jacques, a DWB Stallion owned by her dear fiend Katherine Pfaff of Cross Creek Farm. She was a member of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Tryon, N.C.

Barbara has been a monthly contributor to Life In Our Foothills magazine with the Dudley Column.  Also over the last 10 years, she contributed many stories featuring people in the area equine community. Barbara has written and published two children’s books, Sammy and the Cow Bird, and Dear Bianca. There remains one unpublished book, Dudley’s Dream, A Christmas Tale, illustrated by Bailey West.

Barbara is survived by all the loving friends whose lives she touched.

A Funeral Mass will be held Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016 at 10:30 a.m. at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Tryon, N.C.

Memorials may be made to Foothills Humane Society, 989 Little Mountain Road, Columbus, NC, 28722.

McFarland Funeral Chapel
Tryon, N.C.