Barbara’s Obituary Saratoga Springs – Barbara M. Eaton, 95, passed away on Friday, March 29, 2019 at the Springs Residence of the Wesley Health Care Community. She was the daughter of the late Eleanor Wilkens Graefenecker and Michael Graefenecker of Tuckahoe, NY. Mrs. Eaton was born on October 2, 1923 in New York City and grew up in Tuckahoe, NY.
She studied fashion illustration at Skidmore College. Barbara married the late Frederick G. Eaton Jr. of Saratoga Springs in 1942. The Eatons moved to Ogdensburg, NY in 1950 after the birth of their 3 older children.
Mrs. Eaton was offered an opportunity thru friends to volunteer at Saint Lawrence State Hospital for psychiatric illnesses. There she found the work she regarded as the most significant and interesting of her life. She volunteered with the mentally ill in art and activity groups.
She was comfortable with the most difficult patients and got along well with them. She continued that volunteer work at the Saratoga County Mental Health Center, upon the Eaton’s return in 1956. The Eatons moved to Port Huron, Michigan in 1971.
Mrs. Eaton volunteered there managing and buying for the local hospital gift shop. Aside from her volunteer work, Mrs. Eaton enjoyed attending ballet, theater and orchestral concerts at SPAC, which Mr. Eaton helped found. The Eatons traveled widely around the world in their later years, often with their good friends Frank and Aileen Izzo, now deceased, of Saratoga Springs.
She was a great reader right into her 95th year and could be counted on to know of the newest exciting read. Mrs. Eaton was widowed in 1992. She moved back to Saratoga Springs from Cape Cod in 1993.
She subsequently partnered with Robert Creamer, deceased, of Tuckahoe and Saratoga Springs, whom she originally met in high school. She is survived by 4 children, Sandra C. Eaton, MA, LMHC and her spouse James O. Lawrence; Frederick G. Eaton III and his spouse Cathy H. Eaton; Adrienne E. Eaton, Ph. D and her spouse Stanley Fessant, and Michael P. Eaton, M.D. and his spouse Judy Roberts, RN, MSN.
Mrs. Eaton’s daughter Bonnie L. Browne, Ph. D., predeceased her in 1997 (from MS). She is survived by a younger brother, Donald Graefenecker.
She is survived also by her grandchildren David C. Browne, Stephanie B. Quebedeaux, Frederick G. Eaton IV, Nicholas Loss-Eaton, Barbara Eaton, Tobias Loss-Eaton, Julia Eaton, Henry Fessant-Eaton, Claire Eaton, Michael Eaton, Owen Fessant-Eaton, August Fessant-Eaton and 8 great grandchildren. She will be sorely missed by all who knew her. Relatives and friends are invited to call from 11am-1pm on Saturday, April 6, 2019 at the William J. Burke & Sons/Bussing & Cunniff, Inc. Funeral Homes, 628 North Broadway, Saratoga Springs.
Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Online remembrances may be made at www.
burkefuneralhome.com.
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