Barbara Ellen Carlin

Barbara Carlin, who taught for many years in Portland and many other Oregon schools, passed away peacefully in her sleep at 98 on May 6. As well as being a dedicated educator, Barbara was an avid golfer, excellent bridge player, devout Catholic member of St. Clare’s church, volunteer and active member of many civic organizations.

Born November 5, 1912, in Portland, she lived her first twenty years in Metzger, Oregon. She attended Beaverton High School and graduated from Tigard High School at 16, and Pacific University at twenty, in 1933. She was awarded a masters degree in Education from the University of Oregon in 1962.

Barbara Potts’ career as a dedicated educator and high school counselor began in 1933 on a house boat in Smith River, Oregon, earning $75 a month, continued in Hillsboro, and then in 1939 she moved to Bend, Oregon to become a physical education teacher at Bend High School. She met Edward “Ted” Carlin at Bend’s famous Pine Tavern Restaurant and after an athletic-filled courtship of skiing, bowling, tennis and badminton (golf came later), they married in June 1941. Six months later Pearl Harbor swept them into the U.S. military, and they moved to Camp Lee, Virginia and later to Greeley, Colorado where she worked while Ted oversaw a German prisoner of war camp. During this time they started their beloved family with the birth of Patricia Ann.

Being a wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother were the most important roles in her life. Daughter Patty was soon followed by Mary and son Ted. After the war they moved to North Portland where they raised the three children who all graduated from Roosevelt High School. Barbara returned to the classroom to teach biology, health and science. Her teaching and counseling years at Jefferson and Madison High Schools brought her joy and endless commendations from principals and students alike. She wanted to learn from and help others until her final days-offering to tutor and sponsor young people well into her 80’s.

Her husband Ted passed away in 1983. She missed him deeply and wished he had shared her enjoyment of the family’s life passages, but she continued the world travel they started for her remaining decades from the heart of Africa to the glaciers of New Zealand to the heights of Machu Picchu. Travel focused on family pride including visiting her daughter Mary and son-in-law John while serving as ambassadors in various posts, and son Ted and daughter-in-law Phyllis teaching in Europe for DOD schools. Patty and son-in-law Marvin’s Washington, D.C. home was Barbara’s hub for family celebrations.

In addition to her three children she is survived by nine grandchildren, Jason, Jeffrey, Michael and Heather Fabrikant (Ben Barry), Katie Forstrom (Michael Forstrom), Maureen (Ray Lau), John, Paul and Greg Yates; four great grandchildren, Juliette and Gabriel Forstrom, Isabel Barry and Emma Peggy Lau, all who brought her great joy.

Barbara was a devout Catholic and member of St. Clare’s Church, an active volunteer who took communion to the homebound for years, served on the altar, and volunteered at Loaves and Fishes. She was a member of the Century Club for Women, Elks Widows, Glendale Garden Club and many bridge groups over the decades, including a party on her 98th. An active golfer for most of her life-a proud and deliberate putter-was a member of the Red Tail Swingers, King City Belles, and Lake Oswego Municipal Ladies Club. She played her last round of family golf in August of 2010. At 97 she beat her children and grandchildren while bowling at the White House. She was a member of the Royal Doulton Collectors Club, and a lifelong supporter of the arts, theater, opera, symphony and film.

Barbara spent twenty years as a participant in the OHSU Brain Study for the Aging-giving and continuing her life of service, learning and teaching.

A funeral Mass will be held at St. Clare’s Catholic Church on May 16 at 10 a.m. and a celebration of her life reception at the Red Tail Golf Course Stock Pot Banquet Facility following.

In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to the Barbara Carlin and Mary Barbara Carlin Yates Scholarship Foundation at Oregon State University, or to Pacific University in Forest Grove or to a favorite charity.