Elizabeth Foster Libby"" Barstow

February 11, 1932 – April 14, 2016

Elizabeth “Libby” Barstow of Longmont died April 14, 2016 at Life Care Center of Longmont. Libby was born February 11, 1932 in Berwyn, Illinois, to Dale T. and Opal L. (Sutton) Foster. She grew up in La Grange, Illinois, where she graduated from Lyons Township High School.

She received her B.A. in Sociology from the College of Wooster in Ohio in 1953. After graduate work in labor relations at Cornell University, in 1955 Libby moved to Colorado. She earned an M.S. in Public Administration from the University of Colorado-Boulder in 1966 upon completion of a study on county land use planning in Colorado.

After eight years as a land use planner in the City of Boulder Planning Department, in 1972 she became the Open Space Planner for the Boulder County Planning Department and worked with the citizens Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee to prepare the open space element of the Boulder County Comprehensive Plan. In 1975 she was appointed the first director of the new Boulder County Department of Parks and Open Space and served in that position until mid 1976.

Libby then pursued graduate studies in environmental education and wildlife biology at Colorado State University. In the early 1980s she was the administrative assistant and newsletter editor for the Colorado Wildlife Federation, an affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation. This led her into the nonfiction book publishing field, in which she worked until 2015. At Westview Press in Boulder, she served as a senior production editor. Following her retirement in 1996, she continued to do free-lance copy editing and proofreading on book manuscripts for scholarly publishers.

Libby married Paul G. Smith in Denver in 1956. They had one daughter, Alice Christine. The couple later divorced. Marriages to Robert E.D. Goodwin and to William B. “Bing” Barstow also ended in divorce.

Libby enjoyed everything to do with the outdoors, in particular hiking, bird watching, and nature photography. She was a Life Member of the National Audubon Society and a charter member and past president of the Boulder Audubon Society. She participated in organized birding trips throughout the western United States and in Mexico and Guatemala and birded independently in Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, Europe, and New Zealand. In other travels she attended Elderhostels in Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon and Canada. Some of her favorite travel memories were of a backpacking trip to Rainbow Bridge in Utah before it was accessible by water; a birding trip to Tikal, Guatemala, and a nine-day whale watching trip to Baja California with the San Diego Museum of Natural History.

After her daughter moved to New Zealand, married a New Zealander, and became a New Zealand citizen, Libby enjoyed her many trips to the Jones family farm on the South Island and especially enjoyed being able to spend time with her grandchildren.

Libby participated in many activities at the Longmont Senior Center. In 2007 she was appointed to a three-year term on the Senior Citizens Advisory Board of the Longmont City Council. From 2008 until 2015 she served on the Community Involvement Task Force for Longmont’s Multicultural Action Plan. She also kept in close touch with a group of former Westview Press employees who met for birthday lunches and picnics.

Libby was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Lucy Katz and her nephew Philip Katz. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Alice and Ross Jones, of Fairlie, New Zealand. Her grandchildren; Ruben and wife Jessica, Iain and wife Jordon, and Sarah Jones also of New Zealand. Great granddaughters; Julia, Mia, Emily and Rebecca Jones of New Zealand. Three nieces; Laurie King of Long Beach, Barbara Proud of Cameron Park, and Julie Simonella of Irvine, all in California. Her nephew’s widow, Jennifer Wells, of Santa Barbara, Ca. Two great nieces, Rachel and Allison Proud, and three great nephews, Sean King and Daniel and Michael Simonella.

Cremation has been held, and the ashes will be scattered. Libby requested that no funeral or formal memorial service be held for her. She suggested that any of her family, friends, and colleagues who wished to honor her memory could do so by spending some time outdoors enjoying all that nature has to offer. She also wanted them to remember these words from “Praises for the World” by Jennifer Berezan: “But if I die tomorrow may the last words that I know/Be praises, praises for the world.”

Memorial contributions may be made to the Friends of the Longmont Senior Center, the OUR Center, El Comite, or the Longmont Humane Society, in care of Howe Mortuary.

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