Barbara C. Ben David died on Jan. 29. She was 81.

Barbara was born on Dec. 28, 1943, in Lancaster, Pa., the oldest child of John and Henrietta Child.

She graduated from high school in 1961. She played clarinet and saxophone for six years in the marching band, and took as many art classes as she could. In 1964 she received a B.S. in art education from Kutztown State College in Pennsylvania.

The family came to the Vineyard for summers and had a cottage on the Lagoon, where Barbara and her siblings enjoyed swimming and sailing.

In the summer of 1967, she met her future husband, Jules, on a blind date. They courted through that summer and the following winter in Oak Bluffs, where Jules lived, and in Deposit, N.Y., where Barbara was teaching art in the elementary school. They married in December 1968, and had two children: Derek and Katrina.

As the children grew older, Barbara was den mother for Cub Scouts, and she became active in Brownies and Girl Scouts, eventually serving as Girl Scout Administrator.

Barbara and Jules enjoyed having Jules’ two older boys, Donald and Russell, visit during summer vacation time from their Kentucky home. The children grew and married and had six grandchildren. She loved her times with the four families — weeks spent visiting the “Kentucky contingent”, her time spent in New Hampshire with their daughter’s family at their cabin, and visits with “the girls”. Visits from the “off-Island” children and grandchildren and from her sister, Kate, were special for her.

She is survived by her husband Jules, her son Derek and his wife Ilene of Sudbury, and their daughters Alexandra and Hannah, and her daughter Katrina Araujo and her husband Durwood, and their sons Tyler (Marianna) and their son Noah (Barbara’s only great grandchild), Tyson (Alice), and Tristan (Haley); Donald and his wife Madeline, of Berea Ky., and their daughter Erica (Morgan), and Russell and his wife Sharon of Lexington Ky.

In addition, she is survived by her sister Kathryn Child of New Bern, N.C..

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to VNA Hospice.

A celebration of life will take place at the P.A. Club in Oak Bluffs on Saturday, Feb. 15, at noon.