Barbara Johnson Foote

Barbara Johnson Foote, ne Barbara Huntington Jones: farm girl, home demonstration agent, wife, mother, educator, author, and a friend to all, died today, September 15, 2020, at the age of 99. As an educator, I wonder if she considered 99 a special number; one that bespeaks excellence, yet leaves a reason to strive on. Barbara, you were a 99 and you made it to 99.

Her surviving children, Lois and Philip, know the farm girl well from the “when I was a little girl” stories. We know she rode horses (boy, we wished we had a horse). We know she had integrity. She once accidentally ran over a dog on her bicycle, killing it, then stopped, knocked on the family’s door and told them what happened. And we know she did not always learn from experience. A boy in school once put a tack in her chair. When she responded by putting the same tack in his chair, he had the temerity to tell the teacher! And yet she never ceased to trust everyone she met.

As a mother she brought a bright and positive outlook to every event. She also opened her doors to creatures. Cats, dogs, parakeets, chickens, fish, lizards, salamanders, squirrels, snakes and even a raccoon were welcome pets in her house. In fact, a parakeet might dive into your water glass or a squirrel might steal your bacon at her dinner table. On camping trips her children heard, “Isn’t that wonderful!” and “oh look!” when other mothers might have shouted, “run for your lives!”

When her children were old enough for high school, she went from being a girl scout leader, the town canoe instructor, and a substitute teacher, to teaching kindergarten full time.   She loved the kids and the kids loved her. At the end of a day of teaching she drove to Rollins College sand studied for her second college degree, an MaT. in education. Eventually, teaching led to her book, “Cup-Cooking: Individual Child Portion Picture Recipes.” Look it up if you like, it is still available on Amazon. She traveled widely, giving seminars on the book and sold about 100,000 copies. She did not care about the profits, but she loved to see the kids and their teachers make tiny little cakes together.

After her first husband, Professor Roger Johnson died in 1987, Professor Robert Foote, a widower still carrying a torch for her from their college days at UConn, courted her and they "joined forces" as he liked to say. When asked about his college memories of Barbara, he said, “I remember her running barefoot across the quad, her hair streaming in the wind.”

Sweet dreams Barbara, my sister and I also remember you running barefoot through the grass.