Barbara Ann Bray, age 90, passed away peacefully in Littleton, Colorado on Friday, July 1st, 2022, surrounded by her children.

Barbara is survived by her children, Rebecca Berens, Stephanie Varon, Nicole Bray, Danielle Schreiber, Mark Bray, and Annette Bray, as well as her siblings Nancy Kline, Howard McArdell, Jane Emerson, Jerry McArdell, and nine grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her husband Robert Bray and her sister Helen Green.

Born on December 26th, 1931, in Plainville, New York, to Howard and Ann McArdell, she moved to Los Angeles as a young woman where she lived for nearly all of her adult life. In their last years, Barbara and her husband moved to Denver to be closer to the majority of her children.

In her younger days, Barbara worked as a secretary, most notably for the CIA in Washington, D.C. and Carnation in Los Angeles, before taking on the role of a full-time mother when she was 34, unquestionably her favorite “job”. In 1983, at the age of 51, she returned to college, eventually receiving a B.S. in Horticulture with Gamma Sigma Delta and Phi Kappa Phi Scholastic Honors. She went on to work in landscape design, which she did well into her 70s.

Throughout her life, Barbara was active in a wide variety of activities. She was a devoted Catholic who was heavily involved in Los Angeles’ St Paul the Apostle church. She was an avid skier and golfer, competing and working as an instructor in these sports in her younger years. Barbara loved the outdoors in general but was especially fond of hiking with her family. She also regularly volunteered through the church and, later, using her degree, at sites like the Huntington Library. A very generous and sympathetic soul, she made friends and comforted those who needed it everywhere she went.

Barbara will be laid to rest next to her husband at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. A Celebration of Life will be held for her in Los Angeles, California on July 24th, 2022. In lieu of flowers or other tokens of remembrance, those who wish to honor Barbara’s memory can make donations in her name to the following charities:

Sierra Club - https://act.sierraclub.org/do…

National Dementia Society - https://www.dementiasociety.o…

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