Barbara Broda Adrian

Barbara grew up in New York City and graduated from University of New Hampshire with a BS in Zoology and Chemistry. She later earned a Masters’ degree in Education from the University of Southern Maine.

In her 20’s, Barbara worked in reproductive research at The Population Council at Rockefeller University in New York City. Later she worked with Bert W. O’Malley at The Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. Both of these academic centers were leaders in reproductive research at the time. These experiences helped shape her political and philosophical view of life, but it was the love for her family that shaped her direction in life. Barbara gave up her promising career to devote time to supporting her husband’s education and raising two wonderful children.

After earning a Masters’ in Education in her 40’s, Barbara spent 10 years teaching Biology and Chemistry - first at Portland High School and later at Deering. During the 2008-09 school year, she went on sabbatical to teach students in northwestern Tanzania and Buddhist Monks in Bangkok, Thailand, all the while collecting sand for her ever expanding collection (more on that below).

Barbara was a great lover of the outdoors and instilled that love of nature into her children. She skied all the major mountain ranges of North America and two years ago spent a month trekking and climbing in Nepal where she spent several days at Everest Base Camp.

Among her many talents was an enhanced sense of smell. This was a continuous source of amazement and entertainment to her family. If you had been out to dinner, through her keen nose, Barbara could always tell what you had eaten, and more often than not, at what restaurant you had been. She could also tell which neighbors dryers were on by the scent of their fabric softener. Despite their best efforts, her family was never able to get her to work with the US Customs Service or for TSA. It was a long running family joke that there were two things that must be in Barbara’s obituary – that she “smelled as a dog,” and that she went to Woodstock, but these two were not related. Or maybe it was “smelled like a dog,” no one can remember.

Barbara was fluent in conversational French but despite years of trying, she could never shake her New York accent while speaking French. She always said that she spoke “Francais avec une accent de New York.”

Through her own vast travels, and those of friends and family, Barbara was able to amass what may be the largest and most diverse sand collection in Northern New England. With samples from all over the globe, this collection was something Barbara was very proud of. She loved talking about the geological characteristics in the different sands to anyone who would listen.

Barbara will be sorely missed for her love of cooking, chardonnay, tea and her ability to sleep late but mostly for the love she brought into the world. She is survived by her husband, Larry, two children, Michela and Alex, and two brothers, Ted Broda and Jim Broda.

Relatives and friends of Barbara are invited to a time of Visitation on Tuesday August 9, 2011 from 5:00 to 8:00 PM at the Jones, Rich and Hutchins Funeral Home, 199 Woodford St. Portland.

In lieu of flowers please send donations to: Maryknoll Missionaries Pleasantville, NY (maryknoll.org) or the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation (tnbcfoundation.org).

Please visit www.jonesrichandhutchins.com for additional information and to sign Barbara’s Guest Book.