Barbara B. Luchs

Barbara Baer Luchs passed away early on a Sunday morning at the age of 102, after a long life of service to her beloved native city of Washington, D.C. She died, as she had wished, in her house in the Wakefield neighborhood where she had lived for 75 years, raising a family and welcoming countless friends.

Born July 9, 1923, Barbara was a native Washingtonian and the daughter of another. Her father, David A. Baer, was an attorney and real-estate developer who built the landmark Alban Towers apartments across from Washington Cathedral. Her mother was Ruth Israel Baer of Waterloo, Iowa. The Baers lived at Alban Towers for many years, but Barbara treasured earlier childhood memories of the family house in Kalorama, lost to them during the Depression. She and her sister Carol would sometimes meet former President William Howard Taft on neighborhood walks. The girls wore purple coats and he called them his “little violets”.

Barbara graduated from DC public schools: Adams Elementary, Gordon Junior High, and Western High (now Duke Ellington) High . At Vassar College (class of 1944; she was able to attend her 70th reunion in 2014). she majored in drama and minored in religion. During World War II she worked for the British Army office in Philadelphia, and later the Hedgerow Theater near the city. In 1947 she married Wallace Luchs, Jr. a lawyer and third-generation Washingtonian who years earlier had been her Sunday school teacher at Washington Hebrew Congregation (where they were both lifelong members). They built a house on Appleton Street, NW, where they raised a daughter and twin sons. Barbara did most of the caring for a succession of household pets, including a dog, a rabbit, a duck, hamsters, a guinea pig, parakeets, chameleons, turtles, and three baby alligators. She also nursed baby birds fallen out of nests, and planted volunteer trees from maple seedlings, some still growing in front of the house.

Barbara’s service to the community, mostly as a volunteer, began in the 1950s with work for the DC Office of Civil Defense during the Cold War. She sometimes staffed the Ground Observer Corps, a group of citizen volunteers who watched for incoming enemy bombers from a glass-enclosed room on the highest point in the city near Wilson (now Jackson-Reed) High School. In a time when an atomic world war seemed a real possibility, she and Wallace added a demonstration fallout shelter to the basement of their house. It was open to curious members of the public, but she always said that in the event of an atomic attack, if neighbors came seeking shelter, she would let them in. Later the shelter served as a wine cellar; Barbara called it her way of beating swords into plowshares.

In the 1960s Barbara organized activities for Widening Horizons, a program to offer DC high school students tours of places where they might want to work in the future. She served on the Interagency Staff Committee for Children and Youth and on Advisory Neighborhood Council 3F, helping during the fraught summer of 1968 to found the Fort Reno Park summer concert series (which she attended faithfully, celebrating her 95th birthday at a Fort Reno concert).

She tutored public school students in reading, and campaigned successfully for new playground equipment for Ben Murch Elementary School, new windows and fence decoration for Pierce Elementary School, a new Chevy Chase Community Center, and tennis courts at Fort Reno. She has been honored for her part in the battle, against segregationist opposition in Congress, to get a swimming pool built at Wilson (Jackson-Reed) High School.

In the 1970s she worked for Washington International College and, continuing her lifelong love of theater, helped found The Theater School, now the National Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. She became the Conservatory’s librarian, and eagerly attended student performances for as long as she was able. In the 1980s she ran a sign-language interpreter-scheduling service for Capital Communications for the Deaf (CAPCOM), while also serving in communications and record-keeping for the DC League of Women Voters. The League honored her for her decades of work, especially on the campaign to win voting representation in Congress for the District of Columbia.

Barbara was a gifted composer of songs, ranging from romantic ballads to a celebration of college founder Matthew Vassar to an anthem for the Ground Observer Corps to a lament for a lost umbrella to raucous song parodies for skits at her crowd’s annual New Years’ Eve parties. One song, “Simple Justice,” advocated DC voting rights in Congress. Four of her songs were recorded by vocalist Luci Murphy in 2000.

In election years Barbara worked regularly at the polls. In her later years she volunteered in fundraising efforts at WAMU radio station, and sang tenor in three choirs (Temple Sinai, the Friday Morning Music Club, and Bach and Beer). She was an avid bowler up to about age 90, and continued almost until age 100 hosting a holiday party on Christmas Eve that brought together Washingtonians from a variety of backgrounds over a generously laden table. In her last years she enjoyed sitting on the stoop or in the front hall of her house, looking out at the neighborhood and delighting in greetings from passing neighbors. During that time she received devoted care from Joanne Barroga, who became like a second daughter and helped her to enjoy life to the end.

Barbara supported her husband Wally through recovery from a major heart attack in 1975, and in 1976-77 he stood by her through a struggle with clinical depression that almost cost her life. With good care she surged back, much to his joy and that of the many people she helped with practical advice and a sympathetic ear over the following half century. She loved helping people, especially young ones, to work out their problems and accomplish goals; many have said they owed their success and even their survival to her.

Friends remember Barbara as “the light of the neighborhood,… so welcoming to us when we moved in”, with “ an amazing capacity for joy.” She was “truly a wonderful woman who inspired us all to be active in our community and in life generally,” “an extraordinarily kind, selfless, cheery, and caring person”, “an inspiration to all of us: her kindness, generosity, and spirit, along with her vast, successful, and lasting public service.” From her grandson Richie: “One of my Fondest Memories was getting together every year for Christmas Eve dinner at Grandma's house. She was always so welcoming and always had the best food. The deviled eggs the chicken wings and her famous matzo ball soup will never be forgotten! She also always made sure to always have Orangina on hand because it was my favorite drink. She was the sweetest and she will definitely be missed.” Great-grandson Wally shared his memory of playing “keepy uppy” with a balloon with Grandma while she was in her chair a few years ago.

Barbara was predeceased by her husband Wallace (1979), her brother Richard Barr, a distinguished producer on Broadway (1989); her sister Carol Fischer (2019); and her son Roger (2022). Survivors include her daughter Alison, her son Richard, grandsons Richie, Joseph and Benjamin, great grand-children Wally and Elsie, her beloved caregiver Joanne, and a host of friends.

A life celebration will take place at a later date. Donations in Barbara’s memory can be made to the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts at https://theconservatory.org/donate-1, the DC League of Women Voters at https://www.lwvdc.org/content.aspx?page_id=301&club_id=263021 or your favorite charity.