Barbara Barstow, a well-known concert violinist and symphony musician, of Delano Road in Vineyard Haven, died on April 16 in Martha’s Vineyard Hospital after a short hospitalization.

She was born on June 26, 1917, in Boston to Herbert and Madeline Palmer Barstow.

The family later moved to Fairhaven, where Barbara graduated from Fairhaven High School. All during her school years she commuted to Boston for private lessons with well-known teachers and symphony musicians. At 14 she was asked to join the New Bedford Symphony, and prior to that she had already been a soloist and concertmaster for the smaller New Bedford City Orchestra.

At the New Bedford Symphony she was to meet Shirley Adams, a cellist who was to become her lifelong friend and collaborator in all things pertaining to their pursuit of musical training while supporting themselves on their own during the late Depression and pre-World War II era. Both were determined to follow a career in music over the objections from families and notwithstanding there being very few opportunities for women musicians at that time.

Barbara’s first big break came when she auditioned for Fritz Reiner of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1942 and, as it was wartime and few male violinists were available, she got the job. A year later both she and Shirley got jobs with the National Symphony in Washington, D.C. under Hans Kindler. After that they traveled about the country taking various jobs with regional orchestras, always adding to their musical education, teaching at various schools and universities, giving private lessons and playing with different chamber groups to supplement income. In most instances Barbara, due to her very early experience of being concertmaster in New Bedford, had additional organizational duties in addition to her playing.

After the war they made the major move to come back to New England, taking jobs with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra where Barbara became one of the first women conertmasters in the world. They bought a house in Warwick and lived there until they retired to Martha’s Vineyard in the early 1980s. In 1951 during a summer visit to the Vineyard, where Shirley had had long ties, they fell in love with and bought their home in Vineyard Haven and to finance it for 20 summers ran the Music Box restaurant known for its simple Island fare mixed with impromptu music recitals.

During retirement both Barbara and Shirley worked tirelessly for many Island organizations such as Meals on Wheels, Community Solar Greenhouse and the Tisbury Senior Center, all the while surrounding themselves with hobbies, wonderful pets, and always a home filled with many friends, good food and always music.

Shirley Adams died in March 2008. Barbara is survived by a sister, Judith Laffey of Mystic, Conn., and several nieces and nephews.

Contributions can be made to Meals on Wheels, P.O. Box 2337, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557, or to Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, 667 Waterman avenue, East Providence, RI 02914 to the Barbara Barstow Find.

Interment was held privately.