Barbara Sweeney Francis

Barbara Sweeney Francis

Leyden, MA - Barbara Francis, 84, of Leyden, MA, born in Montclair, NJ, passed on November 19, 2025.

After attending Wellesley College, she began graduate school at the University of Chicago in the turbulent 1960s and moved to New Mexico in 1966 where she was very active advocating and experimenting with solar energy in the 70s and 80s as well as promoting peace and a non-nuclear world. She took this passion to Nicaragua in the late 80s where she propagated knowledge about solar energy, particularly using the sun rather than fossil fuel to dry seeds for farming. She is the inventor of the heliodon, an architectural device that allows efficient and optimal solar design of buildings.

Since moving to Western Massachusetts in the 90s, she continued working on experimental design and was a strong advocate for sustainable farming and building as well as completing a degree in nonprofit management from Bay Path University in Longmeadow, MA.

Barbara is survived by her husband of over 3 decades, Albert Woodhull, three sons Tyler, Hartwell, and Norton, stepson Gordon and two grandchildren Safia and Zain.

Memorial service to be held at later date.