Barbara Emoed (Stewart) Martin

SHARON — Barbi Martin, 48, died on May 12, 2015, from complications following an infection. For 20 years she had heroically battled multiple sclerosis, never complaining and always being a light to those around her.

She was born Nov. 8, 1966, in Essen, Germany.

After graduating from the Frankfurt International School in 1984, Barbi obtained a BA in German from Mount Holyoke, after which she continued into an MA in German from Middlebury College. She was not only totally bilingual, speaking an elegant High German, but was also very familiar with the somewhat demotic version of German spoken in Hesse, in which a good deal of her high school social life was conducted. 

After a brief time working in the Harvard German Department, in 1993 Barbi earned an MSW from Boston University and embarked on a career in social work. Beginning in 1993 she was a social worker in Boston for MSPCC. From 1995 to 1998 she worked for the Health and Education Service in Haverhill, Mass., counseling adults, teens and couples for depression, addiction and schizophrenia. 

Her confinement to a wheelchair curtailed her professional activities. She lived in Cambridge, Mass., from 1988 until the early 1990s, when she moved to Maynard, Mass. 

After two years in St. Louis, Mo., and one year back in Maynard, she moved to Noble Horizons in Salisbury at the end of 2012. In September of 1995 she was married to Michael Martin, who predeceased her by two years.

Barbi loved music. Her biological father, who died when she was 4, was a Hungarian baritone and stage director. Her parents were both opera singers. When very young, she sang in the children’s chorus of “La Bohème.” Later, she took piano lessons and in high school sang in a rock group. But her favorite music was opera. She heard her parents sing many times, and at Noble Horizons one of her weekly highlights was an opera appreciation class.

Barbi was always one of those old souls who attract many friends. From an early age she maintained an extraordinary loyalty to friends from childhood, school and her Cambridge years and after. She kept in touch with those friends from all epochs of her life. Her warm and charming smile, complete with dimples, and sparkling blue eyes, but more importantly her gift for empathetic listening brought her the love and loyalty of all who encountered her and knew her.

She is survived by her sister, Cecily Stewart Hawksworth; and her parents, Jolly and John Stewart.

Funeral services will take place on Saturday, May 23, at 2 p.m. at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in  Amenia, the Rev. Betsy Fisher officiating. Private burial will follow in Amenia. 

Memorial donations may be made to the St. Thomas Restoration Project, 40 Leedsville Road, Amenia, NY 12501; or the Noble Horizons Auxiliary, 17 Cobble Road, Salisbury, CT 06068. 

Arrangements are under the care of the Scott D. Conklin Funeral Home in Millerton. 

To send an online condolence, go to www.conklinfuneralhome.com.