Barbara Ann De Ainza
08/05/1938 - 08/24/2025
Our beloved mother, grandmother, aunt and friend, Barbara Ann (Lillich) De Ainza, age 87 passed peacefully after a prolonged illness on August 24, 2025 in Lakeway, Texas.
Barbara was born a sixth generation Texan, in Houston, Texas on August 5, 1938 to loving parents, Virginia Ann and Ralph Albert Lillich, Sr. and was baptized in the Christian faith as a child and her family attended St. Matthew's First Methodist church. She dearly loved her younger brother Ralph, and they shared a lasting bond.
She is survived by her devoted, loyal and loving daughter Melinda Lee Pyle and husband, Dr. Ronald Edward Pyle of Austin, Texas, granddaughter, Audrey Nicole Newberry and her husband, Gerardo Newberry, and precious great granddaughter Estelle Rose Newberry of Leander, Texas. She is also survived by her loving daughter Brenda Sue Holden, beautiful granddaughters' Emma Jo Holden, and Faith Lexis Holden of Austin, Texas, a dear niece Suzanne Lillich Davis of Spring ,Texas, and nephew Gregory Hugh Lillich and wife Kim Lillich, Sister in law, Alexandria "Sandra" Lillich, loving Granddaughter Paige Ann Thomas and husband Matthew Kenneth Powell of San Antonio, grandson Brian Pierce Thomas wife Christi Thomas, great granddaughter Mabel Thomas, and great grandson Holt Pierce Thomas of Dallas, Texas.
Barbara is also survived by her two estranged daughters', Rhonda Ann Florimbi of Dallas, Texas and Gay Macmillan of Hutto, Texas, granddaughter Allegra Florimbi, grandsons' Franklin Cantrell, and Griffin Cantrell.
After graduating from Reagan High School, Barbara attended SMU in dental hygienists school where she met an aspiring dental student from UT. She married young at 19 years of age at St. Matthew's Methodist Church in Garden Oaks in 1958 to George Berry Robbins in Houston, Texas. She soon became a proud, loving and devoted young mother of four girls and wife raising her young family in the Spring Branch/Memorial area through the '60s and '70s. She enjoyed entertaining friends and family and celebrating holidays and her birthdays with festive cakes and fabulous food. Her favorite summers were spent with her family in Lakeway, boating and skiing on Lake Travis. She also enjoyed being Bar B Ranch "Boss" in Teague, Texas alongside her first husband George, raising and showing exotic Italian "Chianina" cattle in the Houston Livestock Show which was truly a highlight. Barbara was a mom on the move getting her daughters' to Memorial band practices, music lessons, choir practices, social dances, church service and Sunday School weekly. She was also a talented and gifted seamstress, procuring lovely fabrics and sewing many formal dresses and school dresses for her girls.
Barbara's life shifted when she became a single mom, but she found a career as a Houston realtor and also began painting for therapy. She soon discovered her artistic gifts, which became a passion that turned into talent and skill. In the 1990s she launched her professional custom art company, Designs by De Ainza, inc. where she painted custom murals, colorful canvases, lively mosaic painted tiles, children's tea pot pottery, and uniquely painted custom children's furniture. She was a prolific artist creating museum-quality heirloom art pieces for her clients and their children.
Barbara loved digging in the soil, planting and creating tropical gardens and floral landscapes at her homes in Houston and her home in Walden on Lake Conroe, where she and her husband Charles lived for fourteen years.
Her companion dogs, Joy, Jeffrey, Jenni, Princess, Brandy and Tiffany gave her decades of joy and unconditional love. We are grateful to the caring team of staff and nurses at Belmont Village Lakeway and Comforts of Home Hospice who lovingly cared for our mother in her final months.