Barbara Jane Montgomery

Barbara Jane Montgomery, 87, passed away peacefully at Bethesda North Hospital June 1 with her immediate family gathered at her bedside. Devoted wife, mother, and career woman, Barbara was early proof that women can have (and do) it all.
Barbara was born April 9, 1929 in Columbus, Ohio to Genevieve and James Tallman, graduating from West High School in 1946. Her first job was in the secretarial pool at The Columbus Citizen Journal. It was a quick rise to Administrative Assistant to the President of Donaldson Baking Company, a national bakery headquartered in Columbus.
A chance encounter with former classmate Edmund Montgomery, recently returned from the U.S. Marine Corp, sparked a courtship. They married in 1949. But the couple's early home life was interrupted when Edmund was called back to the Marines during the Korean War.
With one son by then, she moved her new family to Camp LeJeune in Wilmington, NC, where another side of Barbara bloomed. She was named Queen of the North Carolina Azalea Festival.
Returning to Columbus, Edmund earned his degree from Ohio State University whie Barbara was Administrative Assistant to the owner of Sutphen Company, a Columbus fire truck outfitter. And when her husband took a teaching job in Cincinnati, she moved to what finally became home.
They resided in Deer Park, ultimately moving to Blue Ash, where Barbara raised three sons and a daughter. When her two youngest started school at Mapledale Elementary, Barbara went with them as a teacher's aide. But her administrative ability couldn't be hidden. She became the school Secretary and Administrative Assistant to principal Mel Berry and his successor Phil Hackett.
In the 1980s, Barbara was early to embrace the coming computer era. She armed herself with courses in math and computer science from The University of Cincinnati and undertook coding and building her school's data management system. It was a system that became the standard for the entire Sycamore school district.
Barbara retired in 1997 and was immediately bored until her husband showed her a help wanted ad for part-time secretarial work at Congregation Ohav Shalom. Ever restless, she ended up developing the entire data management system for their Schul. Finally in 2003, she retired from a career spanning the era from shorthand and manual typewriters to computerized data management systems.
Barbara was a highly accomplished bridge player. She loved to cook and bake. Her desserts were extraordinary, especially cheesecakes and holiday cookies always requested by family and friends. She was also a demon racquetball player. But her true passion was knitting, legendary in the family, as well as a commercially successful. Among the most treasured possessions of family and friends are intricately knitted Christmas stockings and sweaters.
Barbara is survived by her husband Edmund; her sons and daughters-in-law Jay and Karen, Patrick and Suzanne, and Dirk and Caprice of New York, Sycamore Township, and Tampa, respectively; daughter and son-in-law Susan and Bill Carroll of Westchester, Ohio. In addition, Barbara is survived by 13 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren. A memorial service is planned at Montgomery Presbyterian Church, June 20th, 10:30 A.M.