Barbara Stern

Barbara Stern
Barbara Stern, formerly of Emmaus, died Friday, January 20, in New Seasons, Salisbury Township. Her father was George Rodriguez of Egg Bend, Louisiana. Her mother was Elizabeth Stafford of Denham Springs, Louisiana. Family lore has it that the Rodriguez family was descended from pardoned pirates who fought with Jean Lafitte and Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans in 1814. Her beloved father, George Rodriguez, led a colorful life. He was a translator for the Navy, a song and dance man, a player in silent movies and an owner of small businesses. During the Great Depression, George and Elizabeth Rodriguez traveled the back roads of Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas as itinerant photographers and hand colorists. Barbara lived in small hotels, inns and rooming houses until the age of eight, when it was decided she needed to go to school. The Great Depression hit the next year. The Rodriguez spent much of the Great Depression on the Stafford family farm. Barbara felt she missed the worst grip of it because of the food available on the farm, and because she was an only child, but the family was close enough to destitution that she developed a lifelong empathy for the desperately poor. She graduated from Alexandria (Va.) High School and Alexandria (Va.) Business College and joined the civil service. She met her future husband, Gates Barnet Stern, at Fort Eustis, Va. They were married from 1949 until Colonel Sterns death in 1994. As an Army wife, she traveled the world, living at many domestic bases as well as Japan and Germany. Her Great Depression upbringing influenced her to a life of service. She was head of the Red Cross at Fort Eustis from 1963 to 1965. She was head of the Volunteer of the Day program at Lehigh Valley Hospital in the 1980s and co-chaired, with her beloved husband Gates, the Ecumenical Soup Kitchen at St. James A.M.E. Church, Allentown. She was a philanthropist, donating time and money to many organizations, including Doctors Eithout Borders, the Salvation Army and several American Indian schools. She donated money and equipment to several local Lehigh Valley organizations, and had recently contributed to a successful local effort to relocate a family victimized by Hurricane Katrina to the Allentown area. She was a member of Congregation Keneseth Israel, Allentown, and a past board member of its Sisterhood. Survivors: Sons, David S. and wife Marcia in Maryland, Lee G. and wife Jodi of Brooklyn, N.Y.; stepdaughter, Rebecca Howell of Jacksonville, Beach, Fla.; six grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren. Services: 1 p.m. Sunday, Congregation Keneseth Israel, 2227 Chew St., Allentown. Interment in Keneseth Israel Cemetery. Arrangements, Bachman, Kulik & Reinsmith Funeral Home, Allentown. Contributions: In lieu of flowers, Barbara asked that you give to your favorite charity.