Barbara D. Gerlach

Mrs. Barbara Jean Dunton Gerlach, 96, passed away peacefully at home on November 2, 2025, in Ballston Spa, NY, surrounded by her four surviving children.
Barbara was born in the village of Ballston Spa to Ralph E. Dunton and Alice M. Dunton on November 19, 1928. She attended Ballston Spa Schools through 11th grade, then transferred to Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, MA for her senior year of high school, graduating in 1946. She went to Skidmore College in Saratoga, NY for one year before transferring to Oberlin College in Ohio where she graduated with a teaching degree in 1950. During her time there she made lifelong friends and especially enjoyed her art and botany classes.
On June 28, 1952, she married Richard F. Gerlach, Jr. and together they had five children. After moving to Ballston Lake with her children in 1968, Barbara became a teacher and headmistress of the Ballston Lake Montessori Nursery School for almost 30 years. She loved children and was an exceptional teacher. During this time, she also resumed her love of painting, especially nature watercolors. She enjoyed travelling around New England with friends and family.
Barbara was a warm nurturing mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, who always looked on the positive side of things and walked courageously through difficult times. She loved spending time at the family cottage at Lake George, and she had many wonderful years with her family and friends there. She was an avid Scrabble player, and family rarely beat her at her game!
Barbara is survived by four of her five children and their spouses Ralph Gerlach (Sharon), Jennifer Theiss (Richard), Andrea Crouch (Andrew) and Robert Gerlach (Laura), daughter in law Debra Baldwin, 16 grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren. She was predeceased by her oldest son Richard F. Gerlach, III, and her daughter in law Linda Gerlach.
Funeral services will be held at the First Presbyterian Church, 22 West High Street, Ballston Spa on Saturday, November 15 at 11am. Burial will follow in the Ballston Spa Cemetery, Garrett Road, Ballston Spa. A reception will be held at the church after the services.
Memorial contributions in memory of Barbara may be made to Heifer International or Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan's Purse. We especially thank Randy and Sue Ahl who were her friends and neighbors for 35 years and helped her in multiple ways, and Justina Danison who lovingly shopped weekly for her. We also thank all her other friends who assisted her over the years.