Barbara Baker Gouldin

1941 - 2023

GOULDIN, Barbara Baker, of McGaheysville, VA passed away peacefully at Rockingham Memorial Hospital in Harrisonburg, VA on July 25, 2023.

Known affectionately as "Bonnie, Barb and BaBa", Barbara was the first girl born in Peoria, IL on January 1st, 1941. She grew up an only child in Roanoke, VA with her mother, Dorothy Baker, who had a number of relatives and family scattered amongst Fincastle, Troutville and Buchanan, VA. She graduated from William Fleming High School in Roanoke, VA and later attended the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg. She subsequently attended Richmond Polytechnic Institute (RPI, now known as VCU) and received a degree in Merchandising & Marketing. It is at RPI that she met her husband of 62 years, James Ashton Gouldin (Jim). She later earned her Master's Degree in Distributive Education and taught for many years at VCU and various high schools across the region where she was instrumental helping place teenagers in the workplace that were not bound for college. She was an Episcopalian Church member, loved Siamese cats and 50's & 60's music, always had a flair for fashion, decorating, mixing bold colors, growing flowers, playing bridge and canasta with her many friends as well as her annual vacation with family and friends in Garden City, SC.

She is lovingly remembered by her husband Jim Gouldin of McGaheysville, VA; her oldest son James Gregory Gouldin and his wife Marianne Gouldin along with their two children Austin Gregory Gouldin and Olivia Amber Gouldin of Ijamsville, MD; her second son Ashton Garrett Gouldin and his wife Elizabeth Chamberlain Gouldin along with their 3 children Ashton Garrett Gouldin, Jr., Katherine Elizabeth Gouldin and John Charles Gouldin of Great Falls, VA; and her daughter Allison Gouldin Schlabach and her husband Todd Matthew Schlabach along with their 3 children Neve Elise Schlabach, Nora Brynn Schlabach and James Adair Schlabach of Dayton, VA.

A Celebration of Life Service for Family & Friends will be held at Kyger Funeral Home, 3173 Spotswood Trail, Harrisonburg, VA 22801 on October 14, 2023 at 3 p.m., and her ashes will be added to the Atlantic Ocean on Garden City Beach, SC at a later date, per her request.

"What we once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose, for all that we have loved deeply becomes forever a part of us" – Helen Keller

Condolences may be shared at kygers.com.