CECONI, Barbara The extraordinary life of Barbara Ceconi ended with her passing on March 26, 2020. Barbara was born October 23, 1958 to Lucille (DeCarlo) and Arthur Ceconi in North Tarrytown, New York. She graduated from Pocantico Hills Central School, Sleepy Hollow High School, and earned a BA from Amherst College and MSW from Boston College. Barbara lived her adult life in the Boston area, mostly in Brookline, a community she loved and embraced, and it genuinely embraced her. Barbara is survived by her brothers Arthur Ceconi, Jr. of Montville, NJ and Tom Ceconi of Fairfield, CT, an aunt, Joan (DeCarlo) Sypher of Mahopac, NY, her sisters-in-law Eileen (Martyn)

Ceconi and Connie (Fiengo) Ceconi, nieces Lisa, Moira, Anne, Eileen, Christa, Sophia, nephew Sam, and numerous cousins and friends.

The Ceconi/DeCarlo family is quite large and is filled with many accomplished people in virtually every profession and walk of life. That said, the line for the most accomplished in the family starts behind Barbara. She was able to overcome many obstacles to live independently, create a meaningful business, and develop a group of close friends that lasted a lifetime. She loved

the Brookline community, walking with her guide dogs, working at the Museum of Science, educating school children on accessibility issues, the bookstore, meeting friends for coffee and just enjoying life. Her legacy will continue to inspire all those who knew her, especially her nieces and nephew. A Memorial Service will be held at a later time. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to The Guiding Eyes for the Blind, 611 Granite Springs Road, Yorktown, NY 10598. For guestbook, please visit www.buonfiglio.com

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Boston Globe from Mar. 27 to Mar. 29, 2020.

Memories and Condolences
for BARBARA CECONI

7 Entries

May 12, 2020

once when i was visiting Barbara in her beautiful periwinkle blue kitchen, she remarked about her choice of color for the kitchen. I said, rather stupidly i believe--Why do you have such color in your house? She said, I don't have to see the color to love being surrounded by it...."
she loved beauty. she craved the color of things, and to know it was there, whether she could see it or not.
love to you dear Barbara........
mikele

Sondra Thiederman

April 26, 2020

I first met Barbara many years ago at a professional conference. I recall seeing her at the top of some stairs with her current dog. Because I volunteer as a Puppy Raiser for an assistance dog organization, I was curious to speak with her about how the dog functions for her. Well, as it turns out, she and I and my husband, Tom, had a lot more than that to talk to Barbara about. We formed a friendship despite living on opposite sides of the country and even traveled to Italy together. To put it simply, Barbara was an inspiration. Sure, she was courageous and bright and funny, but, speaking for my husband and I, it was her deep-rooted love of life that made her shine. We were blessed to know her.

Judith Porter

April 14, 2020

I am so sorry to read about Barb's passing.

My deepest sympathies to the Ceconi family on their loss.

Barbara and Rob exploring sculpture at the MFA

Hannah Goodwin

April 9, 2020

To Barbara's family and friends,
I have known Barbara since shortly after I started working at the MFA, Boston, almost 19 years ago. We worked together on some different things, and became friends. Somewhere I have a wonderful photo of Barbara and one of her dogs, who fell in love with the sculpture Orpheus and Cerberus. We were doing a tour together, and looked over and her dog was leaning its head on the base, looking up at one of the heads of the three-headed dog. When i described what was happening Barbara laughed that magnificent and infectious laugh. Someday I'll find it and share. I will put in another photo of Barbara on a tour, obviously having a great time with Rob, the tour guide. He was obviously having a great time too.
In addition to coming to the Museum for her own enjoyment, Barbara gave feedback to tour guides in training, working as a consultant and making our guide team better and stronger. She influenced many people, including myself. I am so sorry to learn of her passing. She was a very bright light who has moved into another arena, but I am quite sure is still providing a lot of light. I miss her.
Hannah Goodwin

Betsy Wilson Head

March 30, 2020

I knew Barb through a mutual friend at Wittenberg. She had such a great dry sense of humor! I had an opportunity to visit her seversl years ago when she was having a birthday party, and broke her foot. She just moved ahead with her plans. Such resilience!
I had hoped to meet up in fall of 2018 and spoke with her but when I got to Boston I could no longer get in touch. I was so pleased that she had a number of years where she was healthy and able to enjoy life. Her courage and determination are a great lesson to us all. I was lucky to have known her.
Betsy Head

Kathleen Cahill

March 29, 2020

To Barbara's brothers and their families, I'm so very sorry to hear this sad news. Barbara and I met in graduate school at Boston College. We stayed in touch off and on over the years and I really appreciated her sense of humor, intelligence and relentless determination. I did get to visit with her a few times in the past year to year and a half. Her love of music, food, travel and culture was not to be outdone. She loved children so much and was so proud of her nieces and nephew. She fought hard dealing with all her health issues. She was so brave and optimistic. I will miss her.

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