Barbara Warner

1943 - 2021

Barbara Lucy Salinger Warner died in a boating accident in Massachusetts on May 22. Born to David and Sylvia Salinger on October 11, 1943, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Lucy moved with her family to Italy in 1950, which marked the start of her life-long love of Italian culture--food, wines, ceramics, opera, and more. After the Salinger family returned to the United States, Lucy graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. She went on to Oberlin College, where she was a bright and dedicated student, graduating in just three years. Her major academic areas were English and French, but perhaps just as important were her outside interests. She worked on the college newspaper and sang in one of Oberlin's excellent choirs--forerunners both of a career in journalism and lifelong memberships in choral ensembles, where she added her lovely soprano voice. After Oberlin and a brief time working in New York City, Lucy joined her Oberlin friend Margie Burgess (later Waite), who was working and living in London. Margie, then a social worker at Kings College Hospital, introduced Lucy to Richard Warner, then an intern interested in psychiatry. Dick earned his medical degree and he and Lucy married in 1970. Together they relocated to Colorado and called Boulder home for close to 50 years, raising their two sons in the community they loved. In 1984 Lucy joined the publications office of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, filling in for a staff member on leave. It proved to be a perfect fit. Earlier in her career, Lucy had worked in educational journalism, writing and editing for magazines and newspapers in New York and London. She became the head of communications for NCAR and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, which manages NCAR, from 1996 until her retirement in 2011. Lucy relished the excitement of scientific discovery and encouraged independence, creativity, and teamwork in her staff. She and her team earned national and international recognition for print, video, and web-based work as she led the transition of the organization's public information and media relations efforts from reliance on mailing and faxing into the digital era. Lucy authored and oversaw publication in 1985 of ?The National Center for Atmospheric Research: An Architectural Masterpiece. With text and photos, the book highlights the unique collaboration between architect I.M. Pei and Walter Orr Roberts, founding head of NCAR and UCAR, in creating the NCAR Mesa Lab in southwest Boulder. She updated the book in time for its re-issue in 2017 for the 50th anniversary of the iconic building. Within six months in 2015 and 2016, Lucy lost Dick and then her younger son, David, to cancer. She is survived by her older son, Adam, who resides in Budapest, Hungary. After Dick's death, Lucy continued working with the organization Dick had started in 2006, one that Lucy had strongly supported from the start: Colorado Recovery, a comprehensive treatment model for people with serious mental illness. The progressive vision she and Dick shared was that people with severe mental illness can recover and lead full and productive lives in the community. Colorado Recovery continues to provide a continuum of treatment, from a supportive residential program to transitional housing, outpatient treatment, and social, recreational, and vocational services. When Dick died, Lucy became a voting member of Colorado Recovery's Board of Directors. She became president of the board in 2018 and continued as a visionary leader in that role until her untimely death. She will be greatly missed by the Colorado Recovery community of individuals, families, staff, and board members, who will continue to value the legacy of her wise leadership, her spirited resilience in the face of personal tragedies, and her warm compassion for all people. In retirement, Lucy continued her Italian studies, auditing courses at the University of Colorado, forming a conversation group, joining an Italian book club, and working online with a tutor during the pandemic. Fellow students will remember her encouragement and enthusiasm, including her memorable performance in a commedia dell'arte theatrical production. She and Dick, who shared her love of Italy, enjoyed spending leisure time in their apartment in Spoleto whenever they could. Many friends also experienced the pleasures of that small Umbrian community through Lucy and Dick's generous hospitality. A cultivator of lasting friendships and good conversation, Lucy also enjoyed traveling the wider world with friends, visiting all six populated continents. She was an intrepid and curious traveler, researching the history and culture of each country she visited and documenting its wonders in words and photos. In Boulder she made time for friends old and new, worked in her garden, and volunteered with Meals on Wheels. She also maintained her lifelong love of music. Always an avid classical soloist and choral singer, Lucy was a member of Boulder's Ars Nova ensemble for several years. In addition to her older son, Adam, Lucy is survived by her sister, Ann Salinger, and by her nephew, Ted Furst, and niece, Karen Furst O'Toole, their spouses and children. Lucy's resilience, warmth, and zest for life will long be remembered. Memorial contributions may be made to the Recovery Trust, recoverytrust.org, and/or Meals on Wheels, mowboulder.org.