Barbara E. Hughes

Barbara E. HUGHES Barbara E. Hughes, 71, died on Monday, December 26, 2011. Formerly of Kirkland, Barbara had been living in Dubuque, Iowa to be close to her family since her diagnosis of ALS in 2009. Barbara was born in Dubuque on October 5, 1940. She received a degree in Anthropology from the University of Washington and a nursing degree from Shoreline Community College. She worked for Northwest Airlines as a flight attendant for 48 years before retiring in 2008. She worked as a nurse at Virginia Mason Hospital for 15 years, retiring in 2010 because of her illness. During her lifetime Barbara traveled throughout the world experiencing and learning from other cultures in many third world countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. She climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and hiked to the base camp of Mt. Everest. She completed The Stanley Expedition hiking the breadth of Tanzania on foot to retrace the route taken by Henry Morton Stanley during his epic search for the wandering missionary Dr. David Livingston. She also climbed Mt. Rainier. Barbara went to Borneo to study orangutans with Birute Galdikas, and went to Nepal where she worked for The Dooley Foundation providing medical assistance to the poor, and where she worked with Mother Theresa at the home for the sick and dying and at a school for the mentally handicapped. She traveled to Pakistan twice and had hoped someday to be able to travel to Afghanistan. Barbara will be greatly missed by her many friends and co-workers from across the country who were fortunate to have been able to know her and to share in her extraordinary life. She is survived by her brother Dan and his wife Doris and nieces Tina (Glen) Hasken, Julie (Mike, Jr.) Schmaltz, and Kimberly (Rick) Dehn and eight grandnieces and nephews, all of Dubuque, Iowa. Funeral services were held in Dubuque. A celebration of Barbara's life will be held in the Seattle area in the spring of 2012.