Barbara Tomkinson Racy

Barbara was born in New Jersey, the youngest child of Henry and Margaret (Peggy) Tomkinson. After grade school, she attended Rutgers Preparatory School and enrolled at Mount Holyoke College. She completed her undergraduate degree in 1971 from Wellesley College.

In 1967, Barbara and her first husband Harry Moser welcomed the birth of their son, Robert Henry. It was during these years that she began to explore interests in photography, scuba diving, and especially dance. She was a key member of several prominent Middle Eastern dance companies in Illinois. These passions, combined with a devotion to travel and exploration, enriched her life greatly.

In the mid 70s Barbara met Dr. Ali Jihad (AJ) Racy and they were married in 1979 on the Queen Mary. This began a 44-year marriage built around Middle Eastern music, performance, research and culture. Living in Honolulu, Seattle, and Southern California the couple befriended musicians, dancers, scholars and artists who would remain lifelong friends.

They settled in Los Angeles where she completed an M.A. in Dance Ethnology and Dance/Movement Therapy at UCLA and then continued to pursue graduate work in Clinical Psychology. The California Graduate Institute awarded her doctorate degree in Psychology upon the completion of her dissertation on performance anxiety and musicians. She opened her private practice working with individual clients, and was strongly influenced by her close relationship to Hedda Bolgar, founder of the Wright Institute in LA. Her volunteer work was informed by her academic studies and involved traveling with the Red Cross to disaster areas, providing trauma counseling to those displaced by hurricanes, wildfires, mud slides, and other natural disasters.

Deeply influenced by her family’s Quaker background, Barbara looked for the light and goodness in each person she met. She was an empathetic mentor, therapist, and confidant to many, and her light-hearted sense of humor brightened a room. Growing up she spent her summers at Juniper Point on the Maine coast. Raised by a sailor, Barbara adored the ocean and all its inhabitants. She was always a lover of animals (the human kind too) and her walls and t-shirts could always be seen with a colorful cat, dolphin or exotic creature. Eating some of those sea creatures was also a highlight - a crab cake made her smile.

Barbara and AJ relocated to Georgia in the summer of 2022 to be near her caregiving son and grandchildren. The family is truly grateful to the close colleagues and friends in California, the dear neighbors and family in Maine, and the healthcare professionals who helped care for her at the end of her life. Barbara is survived by her son, Robert Henry, her daughter-in-law, Anne Stuart, her two granddaughters, Evelyn Stuart, and Charlotte Stuart, and sister Nancy Nyberg. Her loving husband AJ was a devoted companion, and all of us will be comforted by the beautiful music he continues to create.

Bernstein Funeral Home, Athens, Georgia, had charge of arrangements.