Barbara Adelia Wright

Barbara Adelia Wright, 85, of Peterborough, passed away peacefully on May 26, 2021 at her home in Peterborough.  She was born in Boston, MA on November 7, 1935, the oldest daughter of Leo and Florence (Glass) Goulet.  Growing up she lived at multiple locations including Boston MA, Lynn MA and Biddeford ME. She attended St. Mary’s High School in Lynn and began working for Liberty Mutual in Boston following high school.

Her future husband turned out to be her friend’s brother.   They each dated other people and many evenings after their dates, Warren and Barbara would go out together for coffee and discuss their dates.    They married April 20, 1958 at the Church of the Holy Name in Swampscott, MA and moved to Schenectady NY where Warren was working for General Electric.

They lived in New York for several years and then moved back to the Boston area, settling in Beverly, MA with their two children, Susan and Grant.  When her children were young she was involved in many of their activities.  She served as a Girl Scout Troop Leader and Cub Scout Den Mother as well as being active in the PTA and Beverly High School Band Boosters. Barbara enjoyed the family vacations which were spent camping throughout the northeast and Canada.  She was an accomplished seamstress and enjoyed making clothes for her family.  She loved gardening and had a particular knack for getting anything to grow and thrive.  She worked for Star Market in Beverly for many years running the local store’s courtesy booth.  She excelled at numbers and enjoyed her interactions with the customers.  In her later years she worked for Autoroll and LLBean.

Barbara’s focus was always her family and her home.  She inherited a love of baking from her parents who ran a bakery in Boston. Her pies were always expected and devoured at family events and she never visited without bringing home baked sweets.  She was an accomplished cook as well and loved hosting family holidays.  Her passion for cooking resulted in an extensive cookbook collection.  She loved decorating her home and enthusiastically embraced all holidays, especially Christmas.  She also prided herself on being the family historian.

Beverly was their home for twenty-three years.  However, her heart was in Maine where she and Warren had bought a house in the small town of Buckfield, Maine in 1978 where they were an active part of the community for the next forty years.  Barbara loved her home in Maine, and enjoyed renovating it and creating beautiful gardens.  She was active in numerous town organizations including the Buckfield Literary Club, and the Buckfield Community Day Committee.  She also volunteered as the Gift Shop Coordinator at Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway, ME for many years.

She enjoyed her four grandchildren and was extremely proud of each of them.  She loved having them come and stay with her in Maine and looked forward to the opportunity to take care of them when their parents needed to be out of town.  She attended many of her grandchildren’s music concerts, dance recitals, soccer matches, hockey games and graduations and her grandchildren appreciated her interest in and support of their activities.

In 2018, she and Warren moved to Peterborough, NH to be closer to their children and grandchildren.    She is survived by her husband of 63 years, Warren Wright of Peterborough, her daughter Susan Wright and her husband Bernhard Porada of Northfield, MA and her son Grant Wright and his wife Monika Wright of New Boston, NH;  her four grandchildren, Timothy Westover of NYC, Brittney Wright of Portland, ME, Meredith Westover of Houston, TX and Colby Wright of New Boston, NH; her two sisters, Virginia Rubino of Fryeburg, ME and Ann Rubino and her husband Lawrence Rubino of Kitty Hawk, NC, along with eight nieces and nephews.   She was pre-deceased by her brother-in-law Gerald Rubino of Fryeburg, ME.

A graveside service will be held in the family plot at Greenlawn Cemetery, Salem, MA at noon on June 7, 2021.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Barbara’s memory to: The Friends of the Zadoc Long Free Library, c/o Michelle St.Pierre, 3 Faunce Road,  Buckfield, ME 04220.