Barbara Joan (Anderson) Hall

SALISBURY — Barbara Joan (Anderson) Hall, who would have been 82 this week, died peacefully and gracefully in her sleep at Noble Horizons on Feb. 2, 2013. She was born in Sharon in 1931, to Helen (Garbaden) and Adolph Anderson. She and her brother, Jack, spent a glorious childhood full of music and happiness, good home-cooked food and great friends on the magnificent grounds and fine gardens of the Herrick estate, where her parents were caretakers. She often fondly reminisced about summers on Mudge Pond with her many very special friends who remained central to her life through school, first Sharon Center School then Housatonic Valley Regional High School, followed by marriages, children and finally the “golden years” when they traveled, lunched and laughed together over lives well-spent. She was an avid gardener and a divine baker with an impeccable flair for designing homes and interior decorating. She loved to knit, travel, catalogue time and travel through photography, take walks with her treasured poodles, Kenzie and Daisy, and spend time with family and friends.Her familiar face and easy smile kindly greeted Sharon Center School students and staff for many years while she was secretary there; customers at the family restaurant in Sharon; and patrons at Sharon Autobody, from which she ultimately retired. She was a devoted mother, indulgent grandmother and great-grandmother and a gracious friend. Always a capable and independent woman, Noble Horizons staff and residents helped her maintain her dignity and sense of self with such extraordinary care and consideration over the last year of her life; and for this, her family will be eternally grateful. If at first anxious, she quickly discovered that Noble Horizons was something of a reunion place where she reconnected with old friends who also laid claim to longstanding roots here in the Northwest Corner over bingo and brunch. With her passing, a certain history and elegance may fade, but her compassion and gentle way will live on in those who knew her. Her gentle ways made her easy to love.As she now receives her well-deserved wings, may she peacefully watch over her three children, Wendy Hall Marshall, Thomas Hall and Terri (Hall) Euvrard and her husband, Tom; her grandchildren, Alexander Hall, Jason Marshall and his wife, Traci, and baby angel, Molly, Erin and Sam Bailey and their kids, Rhett and Amelia and Matthew Marshall and daughter Riley; her brother and sister-in-law, Jack and Mary Anderson; as well as lifelong friend and sister-in-law, Helen (Hall) Thorpe; and many nieces, nephews and friends, who will all miss her so dearly.There will be no services in keeping with her final wishes. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to Sharon Volunteer Ambulance Squad, PO Box 357, Sharon, CT 06069. The Kenny Funeral Home in Sharon has care of arrangements.