Barbara Blakey Reed

1932 - 2021

Barbara Blakey Reed

07/30/1932 - 10/25/2021

Barbara Blakey Reed died October 25, 2021 at her home along the Maumee River in Perrysburg, Ohio, where she lived for most of the last 47 years surrounded by dear friends and her three children.

Born on July 30, 1932 in Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Alva Craig and Kathleen Blakey, Barbara spent some of her early childhood years during World War II in Birmingham, Alabama, and then in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where her father was a civil engineer and her mother worked as a children's librarian.

Barbara continued her education in California where she attended Scripps College. There she met and later married husband Richard (Dick) Palmer Sabin on July 6, 1952.

Barbara's three special marriages marked distinct and memorable periods in her long and interesting life.

Her marriage to Dick Sabin until 1973 included the arrival of her three children, Rick, Betsy, and Kitsy. Their early years were spent in San Jose, California. In the early 1960s, Barbara and her young family relocated to Valencia, Venezuela, where Dick worked in the international division of Owens-Illinois. After a two-year tour in Venezuela, the family moved to Toronto for a one-year post before relocating to the Toledo area living in Ottawa Hills.

Barbara's marriage to Charles (Chas) Lockhart McKelvy, Jr., president of First National Bank of Toledo, brought her to Perrysburg which marked the beginning of a very happy and busy 25-year chapter. Both were deeply involved in the greater Toledo community. Barbara's interests included the Junior League of Toledo, the Toledo Museum of Art, Maumee Valley Country Day School, United Way of Greater Toledo, Colonial Dames, and the Country Garden Club of Perrysburg. They also enjoyed a multitude of great friendships.

A favorite pastime was fly fishing with friends in Alaska, Idaho, the Bahamas and the "Holy Waters" of the Au Sable River where they enjoyed her beloved Camp Shoppenagon in Grayling, Michigan. They also filled their lives with extensive travel across Europe and Africa.

Following Chas McKelvy's death in 1999, Barbara married Timothy Snook Reed, a long-time friend from their days in Venezuela. Tim's love of world travel, blues music, and literature filled their years together, including time Barbara spent reconnecting with her roots in the South. Their regular travels across the U.S. and world, network of close friends, large extended families, shared love of literature, and skilled bridge competition made for a remarkably active social schedule and brought them many years of happiness until Tim's death in 2017.

Barbara's lifelong friends in Miami, Santa Fe, and California were a source of great joy to her, and she maintained strong connections throughout her life. Barbara was a generous and seemingly effortless host to all in her orbit, bringing an easy elegance to any event or engagement. She was an incomparably well-read and enthusiastic conversationalist on a range of topics including history, politics, the arts, and global events.

Barbara was equally at ease with her grandchildren and their friends, remaining deeply engaged in their social lives during college and beyond with their families across the country. Her family, friends and passions were always the beneficiaries of Barbara's loyalty, quick wit, sagacity, attention to detail, and the graceful confidence expressed in all that she pursued during a life filled with adventure, celebration, and experience. Her grandchildren remain grateful for her love and unwavering expectations on their adherence to proper manners and the finer points of English grammar.

Barbara Blakey Reed is survived by children, Richard Palmer Sabin, Jr. (Rick & Mary), Mary Elizabeth Kelsey (Betsy & Reeve), Kathleen Sabin Choka (Kitsy & Byron) all of Perrysburg, Ohio; six grandchildren, Elizabeth Kelsey Scruggs (John), Sarah Kelsey Ricketts (Ben), Barbara Kelsey Ploshay (Evan), Charles Craig Choka (Elyse), Kathleen Blakey Choka, and Katherine Anne Sabin; eight great- grandchildren; step-children, Charles Lockhart McKelvy (Ken), Taylor McKelvy Lupica (Mike), Johnson Stoddard McKelvy (Janice), Peter Martin Reed (Karen), Karen Melissa Reed (Thomas), Christopher Paul Reed (Diane), Timothy Mark Reed (Jennifer) and Andrew William Reed (Kim); and beloved friends, Judith and David Enstone.

The family conveys its sincerest appreciation and thanks to Barbara's longtime supporters Joel Sondys and Anna Durham.

A memorial service will be held on Thursday, December 2, 2021 at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Perrysburg at a time to be announced later. Arrangements were entrusted to Witzler-Shank-Walker Funeral Home, Perrysburg (419-874-3133). The family requests that any memorials be sent to the Toledo Museum of Art, Maumee Valley Country Day School, or St. Timothy's Episcopal Church. Condolences may be made online to the family at walkerfuneralhomes.com