Barbara Lincoln Ashbaugh

WW II Vet, Social Worker, Pilgrim Church Founder
Barbara Ashbaugh passed away peacefully at her home on Tuesday, December 7. She consistently shared her insights and her love with family and friends, remaining alert until the end. Barbara Jane Lincoln was born January 30, 1913 in Lowell, Massachusetts to
the Rev. C. Arthur and Ethel Lincoln. She was the second of four sisters; Marjorie L. Bittner (who preceded her in death in 2005), Ruth L. Kaye, and Margaret L. Bates. One brother, Richard, tragically drowned as a child in 1926.
She graduated from the University of North Carolina Woman's College in Greensboro NC, earned a Masters in Social Work from University of Pittsburgh in 1937, and launched her career as a social worker in Baltimore and North Carolina.
In 1943 Barbara joined the Red Cross, assigned to the 25th General Hospital unit in Europe. After the war, she came to San Francisco to rehabilitate GIs who had been liberated from Japanese POW camps. She also volunteered for service on several "bride ships" carrying European brides of American GIs across the Atlantic. In 1946, her last bride ship tour on the USAT Edmund Alexander ended abruptly when the 46,000-ton ship exploded four hours from Bremerhaven, nearly capsizing it. She spent a long night in a lifeboat on the North Sea before being rescued.
Barbara came to Redding in 1947 as Chief Social Worker for the VA. She met Lowell W. Ashbaugh at a Little Theater party in April 1948, and gave him a ride home. He "forgot" his umbrella in her car; she returned it the next day. They married on September 3 and had three sons: Roger Williams (1949), Lowell Lincoln (1950), and John Barton (1952).
Together, they helped organize the Pilgrim Congregational Church in 1957. Frank Lloyd Wright designed the church just before his death in 1959. Barbara always raised a strong voice for respecting Wright's plans for the site.
Barbara returned to her profession as a State psychiatric social worker, supervising Community Mental Health Services from 1965 through her retirement in 1978. She also helped found the County Mental Health Department in 1965.
The Ashbaughs hosted AFS student Roel Koster of the Netherlands in 1969-70, whom Barbara called her "Dutch son." Barbara is survived by her two sisters, three sons and their wives, nine grandchildren, and one great-grandchild on the way. The family is indebted to her physician, Harry Daniell, and to her caregiver for nearly two years, Wanda Buckley.
Contributions in Barbara's memory may be made to The Building Fund for Pilgrim Congregational Church, PO Box 993183., Redding, CA 96099. All are invited to celebrate her life of service and devotion at the church on Saturday, January 15 at 11 a.m.