Barbara Ivy Saladin Graham

Celebrate Barbara Ivy Graham William Onderchain and the family of beloved Barbara Ivy Graham, who left us on January 7, 2010, invite friends and colleagues to her Memorial Service Celebration Sunday, March 14 at Weed-Corley-Fish Lake Travis, 411 Ranch Road 620 S, Lakeway, Texas. This special service begins at 2 PM – celebrating an extraordinary woman who loved and the people who loved her. A reception will immediately follow. A Shining Star Born Barbara Ivy Saladin on February 15 of 1947, to Frank and Virginia, she took the world by storm from day one. She excelled at her studies, graduating from John Glenn High, Huntington, NY, and Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, with concentrations in marketing communications and fashion design. Always kind and gentle to all, she was genuinely a nice person, funny, warm. In hindsight, those who knew her understood only New York City would do. She moved there and embraced all that it offered – not the least of which were the fine arts, Broadway, gourmet cuisine and wines plus designer fashions that accentuated her natural beauty. She was there for now-parted Virginia when Frank was suddenly taken from them, meeting her responsibilities without complaint. And when her now-late husband Al Graham fought the same illness that took her life later, she was there too. Then Bill became an integral part of her life on New Year's Eve, 1995. As he likes to say, "If you think knowing or working with Barbara was special, you should have lived with her: now that's special." She embraced his son Dan and lovely Amy Nicholson (both now of Seattle, WA) as if they were blood family – just as she had for Al's lovely daughters, Jill Graham Collins (now of Washington, DC) and Priscilla Graham Kirkwood (now of San Antonio, TX). Talented, Accomplished, Endeared Barbara Ivy Graham was an outstanding executive in the financial, publishing and advertising industries – most recently as a distinguished vice president with a career focus on media and advertising research. Holding an array of important positions in New York with leading companies – including divisions of WPP, the world's largest marketing communications company, and CitiGroup – she was a respected professional who not only fostered innovation and quality execution, she taught it through example. Five years ago Bill and Barbara moved her "class act" to deep in the heart of Texas, up to Austin's delightful hill-country town of Lakeway that lies along Lake Travis. There they enjoyed their home, gardening, talking politics, searching the Internet most Saturdays for great recipes she would prepare in the evening, listening to Austin's premier 24-hour KMFA classical music station, walking the dog, chasing each other in the pool, sharing times with friends, dining out and entertaining at home and so much more, not the least of which was their beloved Murray and the latest "apple of her eye," Sir Martin Dean. This uptown New-York woman so enjoyed Texas she loved to tell natives, "Got here as soon as I could!" Barbara Ivy Graham. What a wonderful passionate woman, a genuinely happy nice person – a truly unique giving individual. Please come celebrate all that she was and embodies now on Sunday, March 14. She simply won't consider the party complete without you. We invite you to learn more about Barbara Ivy Graham and her celebration (go to www.wcfish.com).