Obituary of Barbara B Hance

Barbara Burdette Hance July 25, 1925 – November 2, 2015 Barbara Hance, raised in Whitehouse, died peacefully Monday afternoon at the Karen Ann Quinlan Home for Hospice in Sussex County, NJ. Her passing was honored by a blazing sunset and the sounds of horses neighing in the pasture at the foot of her bed and Canada geese making their way to the pond for the evening. She would have loved it that way; she loved nature and taught her children and grandchildren to love it as well. Months earlier, Barbara turned 90 in a celebration with family and friends who traveled from all across NJ and from PA, DE, TN, FL, and CA to party with her. Her 90th birthday had been a key milestone of her later years, and she was amazed and happy with the attendance, basking in the outpouring of love. Barbara was the beloved mother of five children, Mary Ann, Joy, Billie Jo, Arthur, and David. She had six grandchildren and one great grandchild. Her husband William J. Hance was a service veteran of WW2. From the moment they met as children, they knew each other as Billy and Bobby, nicknames they used in their wedding vows and throughout their life together. Barbara was pre-deceased by Billy and Mary Ann. Barbara was a teacher in the Readington Twp. School systems, and later, a hospital unit secretary in St. Petersburg FL. In NJ, she was a Girl Scout leader in the Rolling Hills council, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a member of the Readington Twp. street naming committee, active in a bridge club, and was a charter member of the Lamington Lancers. When she moved to Florida in 1974, she became a member of the St. Petersburg garden club and a volunteer docent at the Florida International Museum in St. Petersburg. She continued to be an active bridge player. She was an accomplished musician, playing the Whitehouse Methodist church organ for many years. She always had a great poem for a friend or family member’s special event or birthday, and she once won a stainless flatware set for writing a jingle for the electric company about light bulbs. Her creative streak never flagged, and in the House of the Good Shepherd, where she lived when she moved back to NJ in 2009, she created a monthly resident birthday bulletin board for years. Barbara’s interest, activities, and skills were well known to all. She hunted with both bow and shotgun, gardened, canned and froze fruits and vegetables, was an amazing seamstress and bookkeeper. She was a wonderful mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend. There was no project she wouldn’t take on for the sake of her family. She will be missed. Services for Barbara will be held at Kearns Funeral Home, 103 Old Highway 28, Whitehouse, NJ 08888 on Friday, November 6. A viewing will begin at 11:00 AM with a service at 12:30 PM. In lieu of flowers, please make donations in her honor to the Karen Ann Quinlan Home for Hospice at 99 Sparta Ave, Newton NJ 07860 or http://www.karenannquinlanhospice.org.