Barbara M. Stewart.

• Position: Obits

WESTBOROUGH - Barbara M. (Lowe) (Gibbs) Stewart, daughter of Greta Ethel (Stewart) and Frederick Earle Lowe passed away peacefully on Wednesday. Barbara was born in Lowell before moving to Worcester at a very young age. The family settled in the Greendale area, ultimately building their own home on Sherburne Avenue. Barbara spoke of a happy childhood enjoying the Fairgrounds, Indian Lake, the Greendale library and Sundays at the Greendale People's Church. "I was a city child, though I lived in an area somewhat divorced from downtown, with ample trees and flowers and near a beautiful lake." As a child she played clarinet in the West Boylston Street Band, and later taught clarinet and saxophone to her children. She spoke so lovingly about her time at the West Boylston Street School. Years later as the school was demolished to make way for progress, Barbara secured a sacred brick that rested on her mantle for many years. Barbara graduated from the High School of Commerce before matriculating at Boston University. She worked that summer waiting tables at a resort in Maine and come fall, just 17 years old she set off for her first day of college in a city she knew nothing about. Because of financial constraints she commuted from Worcester to Boston. The commute began at sunrise catching a city bus, to the train at Union Station, followed by a trolley in Boston. Then she returned to Worcester each evening by the same circuitous route. As she later wrote, "The daily commute that first year, day after day, through rain and wind and snow was hell. I don't know if I could have continued, but at my lowest moment I met a woman named Elzbeth Melville, Dean of Women at B.U. Exceedingly kind, she offered me an opportunity to room at the Harriet E. Richards Cooperative House on Bay State Rd."Life began anew as one of twenty-four exceptional women studying hard for a better future. We worked together to maintain the building, and developed friendships that have lasted a lifetime. One of the two or three most exceptional accomplishments of my life was to be appointed, by the Dean, the President of Harriet Richards house."Ultimately, Barbara earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the School of Management (College of Business Administration).Earning a college degree did not make life easier. She developed a resume, made calls and traveled to interview after interview seeking an entry level professional position. Time and again, she was told, "we don't know...