Barbara Lynn Corbin

Born in Glendale to parents Mary Elizabeth Grace Barr Gibbs and Leon Wilfred Gibbs, Barbara, nicknamed “Prissy,” spent her first 3 years in California while her Dad fought in the Pacific theater of WW2. They then moved to College Station, Texas, where she grew up as the oldest - and bossiest - of 4 children. She graduated from Stephen F. Austin High School in Bryan, Texas, and went on to receive her Bachelors of Arts in Music Education and later her Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Texas in Austin, where she was a member of Sigma Alpha Iota, a fraternity comprised solely of women who study music. She then married Daniel B. Corbin, settled in Austin, and had 2 daughters, Kathleen and Laura.

During an era when many women found it difficult to have a voice, Barbara greeted the world clearly through music and song. She was in choirs at church, school, and her community, studied voice and piano throughout her entire life, and was cast in many performances starting from an early age and continuing into adulthood. She was a frequent soloist for oratorios throughout the Southwest, having performed with the San Antonio, Austin, and Brazos Symphonies and the TMEA All-State Choir. She was also a frequent soloist at the International Schubert Festival in Austria. However, despite many professional successes, her true calling was to teach and encourage others. For over 30 years, Barbara was a member of the voice faculty and conductor/director of the Opera Workshop at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. Prior to teaching at SHSU, she also taught in Austin Public Schools, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her adjudication and clinician positions included workshops in Texas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Indiana. She spent many years directing church choirs at a Lutheran church in The Woodlands and First United Methodist Church in Huntsville. She retired in 2010 as a Professor Emeritus at SHSU. One of her achievements of which she was most proud was the establishment of The Carol Smith and Barbara Corbin Music Education Endowment whose mission is to provide ongoing financial support to the Center for Music Education in the School of Music at Sam Houston State University.

From elementary children to college students and beyond, she imparted knowledge about voice and music, but also about life, with a great love and warmth that enveloped everyone around her. Many of her former students still say, “She believed in me and made me the musician I am today,” and that uplifting inspiration may have been her greatest gift of all to the world. When Barbara said she knew you could do it, she convinced you, too.

Barbara was a mainstay of the Huntsville community for over 40 years. She was a board member of the Wynne Arts Center and the C.O.M.E. Non-profit Center. She directed several community theater productions like Annie and the Mikado and never missed a chance to support causes like the Angel Show Holiday Market and the Empty Bowls Fundraiser. She was an active member of St Stephens Episcopal Church and later attended both First United Methodist Church and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Huntsville.

She was deeply spiritual and considered herself a life-long learner and seeker of knowledge and enlightenment. She was never happier than when curled up on the couch reading, or staying up late to discuss matters of faith, art, knowledge, and music with friends and family, her laughter ringing throughout the house deep into the night.

From her family: We will miss her playing her piano while we all stand around singing hymns or Christmas carols or broadway tunes (she could play anything we asked for). We will miss her belief in the human mind and its power- she once bought the book Learn to Speak Chinese in 15 Easy Minutes a Day and truly believed that once she set her mind to it, she would accomplish just that. We will miss her gossipping about the music department and talking about the Good Old Days when she directed Gilbert and Sullivan or was in Amahl and the Night Visitors (one of her favorite roles). We will miss her raised eyebrows, her mustard barbecue sauce, and the way she could hem our pants and dresses on her Singer sewing machine. We will miss sitting on the couch with our feet tucked under her to keep them warm. We will miss watching her dote on her beloved grandchildren and our dogs. We will miss calling her 3 times from the grocery store (to ask how to pick out a ripe cantaloupe, what are the ingredients in her pulled pork, or to remind us which cleanser won’t scratch the bathtub) and then doing it all over again the next day with different questions. We will miss her light, her smile, her warm embrace, her laugh. We will miss her rich voice and her harmonizing. We will miss how she made everything better, always, and how she made everywhere feel like home. We will miss most of all her immense love.

She is survived by Barbara Carol Smith, her lifelong best friend with whom she worked, traveled and shared a home, her two daughters Kathleen Elizabeth Corbin of Waterville, Maine and Laura Lynn Corbin Grimes and her husband Eric Lynn Grimes of The Woodlands, Texas, her sister Mary Margaret Gibbs Fulton and her husband John Fulton, her brother Michael Allen Gibbs, her 3 beloved grandchildren Madalyn Laura Minot, Elizabeth Leslie Minot, and Nathaniel Gibbs Minot and many more beloved cousins, nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her sister Elizabeth Ann Gibbs.

A memorial service in Barbara’s honor will be held at 11 am on May 31, 2025, at the Gaertner Performing Arts Center of Sam Houston State University located at 815 17th Street in Huntsville, Texas. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Carol Smith and Barbara Corbin Scholarship in Music at SHSU. You can donate here www.shsu.edu/giving by adding In Memory of Barbara Corbin to the designation line.