CATEGORY: Event TYPE: Obituary NOTE: BROOKLYN, CT Barbara E. Bayer, 81, died Sept. 3, 2004, daughter of the late Otto M. Kindler and Lila (Wedlock) Kindler was born in Webster, MA June 17, 1923, was a longtime resident of Thompson, CT. She moved to Creamery Brook Retirement Community in Brooklyn, CT with her husband of 59 years, John C. Bayer. Her family summered at a family cottage on Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. She leaves her husband, John C. Bayer, two daughters, Linda J. Kane and grandson Christopher J. B. Kane of Putnam, and Pamela Duprey and husband, Rev. Richard Duprey of Higgins Lake, MI, a son, John C. Bayer, Jr. (Jack), his wife Dr. Deborah Bayer, and grandson Martin J. Bayer of Egg Harbor, NJ; a brother, Ralph O. Kindler of Danville, NH and numerous nieces and nephews. Barbara was predeceased by siblings, Ernest Kindler, Harold Kindler Ruth Lapierre, Lois Barker, Joan (Sampson) Peckham. She is a descendant of Rev. Eleazar Wheelock the Congregational Minister who founded a school for Native Americans which became Dartmouth College. Barbara was a Girl Scout mariner and taught sailing on Webster Lake, during her Girl Scout years. She was chosen to attend an International Girl Scout conference and met first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. She graduated from Bartlett High School class of 1941, and the Modern School of Fashion and Design, in Boston. She designed and made custom hats for ladies in a Harvard Square shop. She was inspired by her uncle, Warren Wheelock, painter, sculptor and teacher at Pratt Institute, in New York City. Barbara joined her husband who was in the Navy during WWII and stationed in the Philadelphia. They moved to Cincinnati, later resided in Dudley, and Oxford, MA. She lived in Thompson, CT, for 50 years, where she raised three children, a horse, a goat, sheep, and gardens. She served on the Thompson Library Board, was active in the Thompson Congregational Church, the Village Improvement Society, and the Thompson Historical Society, was a costume designer at Old Sturbridge Village, Member of the Woodstock Quilters, the Woodstock Players, and L'Apres Midi and still found time to teach arts and crafts to children for the Putnam recreation program.
Barbara was recognized for her artistic ability, having worked with oils, pastels, watercolors, and textiles. She created works of art, oil painting, theorem and needle work. She painted original wooden miniatures of Thompson buildings, sold by the Thompson Historical Society. Barbara led her church mission committee with compassion for the less fortunate in our world. She traveled extensively in the USA and Europe; however, she was particularly fond of her visit to a settlement on Lake Mistassini near Hudson Bay, where daughter Pamela and Rev. Richard Duprey were Christian missionaries to the Cree, a First Nation people. She was a founding director of TEEG (Thompson Ecumenical Empowerment Group), her favorite mission and charity. In 2003, she and her husband were made honorary chairpersons of the TEEG annual "Have-A-Heart" auction and fund raiser. A memorial service will be held September 18th (Saturday) at 2:30 PM at the Thompson Congregational Church, 347 Thompson Road, Thompson, CT. Burial will be in Mt. Zion Cemetery, Webster, at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers, her family suggests memorial donations to: TEEG, P.O. Box 664, North Grosvenordale, CT 06255; Hospice of NE CT, P.O. Box 632 , Putnam, CT 06260 or the Thompson Congregational Church, P.O. Box 308, Thompson, CT 06277. Arrangements by The Smith & Walker Funeral Home, Putnam.