Barbara Irene Buckingham

Though she had medical issues for the past year, Barbara passed away peacefully with her husband of nearly 55 years, son Gary, daughter-in-law Maryann and grandchildren, Joshua and Chloe, by her side. She was the last family member of her generation to leave this world behind.

Barbara was born in Los Angeles, California on July 7, 1938. She lived in Montibello, California for most of her school years. Barbara enjoyed riding her horse, Blaze, through the Los Angeles Dry Viaducts. She was very active on her parent's small farm. She would spend a lot of her free time with her friends at the Santa Monica Pier.

As her father, Hudson Hanawalt moved to Sacramento, California as a Aerojet Engineer in the mid 1950s, Barbara, in her late teens, attended a Beautician College where she learned hair styling. She loved it so much that she styled her own hair for the rest of her life. Shortly after she would marry Robert Weidmar and moved to Concord, California where they produced their four children Shannon, Jodi, Jinxie and Sean.

Barbara enjoyed gardening, picking and eating the fresh tomatoes from her plants, and loved her many plants that would hang in her home. So many adventures were experienced and enjoyed as she traveled up and down the California Coast Line as she joined her husband while he had seminars on traffic safety.

Barbara married Gary Buckingham on New Years Eve of 1968. They resided in Concord for 37 years where she became an Office Manager for Certified Life Insurance Co. for over 10 years before retiring in 1996 at 58 years of age. She was very active in Little League Activities, often becoming the Team Mother for the kids baseball and soccer teams. Barbara traveled the state with her husband as he was active in City Safety Organizations. She was married to her second husband, Gary, just short of 55 years by three and one half month.

Barbara was the proud mother of six children, Shannon Weidmark (63) of Texas, Sean Rodgers (59) of California, Jodi Ford (passed away in 2020 at the age of 54), Jinxie Kamm (passed away in 2018 at the age of 50), Gary Buckingham II (52) of Arizona and Pamela Parrish (52) of California.

Barbara was also proud of her fourteen grandchildren Rochelle Kamm (36), Stephanie Kamm (35), Jeffery Kamm (32) all in California, Matthew Kamm (21) stationed in Japan with the US Marines, Katie Stephenson (36) of Georgia, Jackie (21) and Jimmy Rodgers (19) of California, Zackery Weidmark (20) stationed at Fort Drum New York with the US Army, Michael (25) and Jacob (23) Boyd, Faith (16) and Jasmine (14) Moya all living in California, Joshua (17) and Chloe (16) Buckingham of Arizona, and one great granddaughter Bailey Badelle (8) of California.

The most satisfying and happiest years for Barbara were spent living in Surprise, Arizona for 18 years, where she and her husband Gary were inseparable upon their retirement and would always be seen wearing their matching shirts and holding hands as they walked together. Barbara loved traveling to different locations with Gary to window shop. Her favorite spot was sitting on a bench at the Martinez Marina in California where she and her husband would hold hands and watch the river.

If you were ever fortunate enough to met her, you would never forget her- She was and is very special.