Barbara Blum

ATLANTA, GA — Barbara Blum died peacefully on Thursday, November 19, 2009, in Atlanta, Georgia.

She was a humble maverick of her time. Her family returned to Greensboro in 1972 after a two-year residence in Atlanta, smitten with soccer, where three of her five children played recreation soccer and Barbara became the second female soccer referee in Atlanta.

When the Greensboro Parks and Recreation expressed no interest in launching the sport, Barbara organized a massive neighborhood phone call campaign which resulted in a promise to provide the fields if she found the coaches. The rest is history. She was inducted into the N.C. Soccer Hall of Fame in the 90s for her footsteps in bringing recreational soccer to North Carolina. Barbara was always humble about her Master Duplicate Bridge Achievements but the trumps and ruffs and vulnerable lingo filled the phone lines of the Blum household for decades.

Barbara leaves behind five children, Lori and Barry Sugarman, Jody and Rick Beebe, David Blum, Eric and Stephanie Blum, and John and Catherine Blum, and 12 grandchildren. Her love of family along with her iron resolve continues to be an inspiration to those she leaves behind.

A funeral service will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 25, in Temple Emanuel, Greensboro. Interment will follow in The Hebrew Cemetery.

Hanes Lineberry Funeral Home is handling the local arrangements.

Arrangements are by Dressler's Jewish Funeral Care, Atlanta, Georgia, (770) 451-4999

An online guest book may be signed by visiting www. edressler.com