Barbara (Bobbi) Joan Leenhouts Towne died peacefully Sept. 1, 2024, in the loving care of her husband Neil and family.

Barbara was born Nov. 25, 1931, in New York to Edgar and Pauline Leenhouts, the eldest of two children. She grew up in Howard Beach and spent summers on her grandparents’ farm in Sheffield Mass.

Bobbi graduated high school at 16 pushed through by the war. She attended Sullins Junior College for women for two years then on to the University of Vermont where she met Neil.

She graduated in 1952 with a degree in English and after telling Neil that she broke up with her fiancée because she wanted to marry him instead, they married in New York in October of that year and then honeymooned on the Greyhound bus to Florida to visit Bobbi’s grandmother and then on to Los Angeles.

Their first Son Marc was born in 1954, and Sean followed in 1957, then the family was off to Guam to teach. Daughter Danielle was born there in 1959 and after two years they returned to Los Angeles.

In pursuit of a master’s degree for Neil the family moved to Seattle in 1962 where they settled in student housing at the University of Washington.

Contemplating job offers in San Diego and Seattle, Bobbi emphatically opted for the sun and the family settled in the Fletcher Hills area of San Diego in 1964 where they put down roots for 32 years.

Bobbi kept the home fires burning and they welcomed Luke in 1966. Bobbi must have decided she didn’t have enough to do and so they started taking in foster kids when she became aware of a boy from the elementary school that needed a home.

The summer of 1970 found the family circumnavigating the country on a three-month adventure in the “Blue Zoo” van pulling the “Towne Teepee” tent trailer.

Between 1970 and 1972 Bobbi worked diligently through the La Mesa United Church of Christ to get the Charlie Brown preschool and children’s center up and running.

In 1972 Bobbi started teaching foster parenting classes and in 1973 they adopted their foster children, Janet and Steve.

Bobbi was the family’s unofficial editor-in-chief and not only helped with kid’s homework but was integral in helping edit and type multiple drafts for a textbook co-written by Neil and a colleague on interpersonal communication used in colleges and universities across the country.

The school year of 1973-74 sent the family off on another adventure, this time to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, where Neil taught at the Colorado Mountain College and Bobbi arranged a job at the local Sunlight Ski Area, running the poma lift on Saturdays in exchange for a family (of eight) ski pass. She also undertook the job of sewing down coats from kits for the entire family.

Apparently bored after the jackets were done, Bobbi started writing a weekly column for the local newspaper entitled Food and Things, which covered, not surprisingly, food and things.

Bobbi was ahead of her time in understanding the value of food nutrition and routinely engineered dinners with unique foods for family and friends. Bobbi’s homemade bread was a staple for her family and a sought-after item at church auctions.

After returning to San Diego, Bobbi went back to school at San Diego State University to get her master’s degree in Marriage and Family Counseling. She worked in counseling at several schools around the area including Bancroft Elementary. Eventually she and Neil developed a curriculum for a course in couples communication that they co-taught at Grossmont College for 10 years.

Finally, the time had come to retire, and Bobbi and Neil moved up to Kelseyville, California, to live on Clear Lake in a house they built.

In Kelseyville, Bobbi threw herself into the local church running and cooking for the chili-chowder annual fundraising dinner.

She also became involved with Clear Lake State Park as a docent with Neil, helping to raise money for an educational visitor’s center by staging omelet breakfasts with guided tours of the park.

They lived on Clear Lake for over 25 years before returning to San Diego to be closer to family after turning in their drivers’ licenses and Bobbi began to face memory challenges.

Bobbi will be remembered as a mother to many, a friend to anyone she met and an inspiration to find the best in everyone. She was the hearth around which we all gathered. She will be sorely missed, and we shall now have to blunder along without her.

Bobbi was predeceased by her parents, Pauline and Edgar Leenhouts, and son, Steven Towne.

She is survived by her husband of 72 years, Neil Towne; her sister, Janet Leenhouts; her children, Marc (Michele) Towne, Sean (Jeannette) Towne, Danielle Towne, Janet Zingano and Luke (Deborah) Towne; eight grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter and one on the way.

A celebration of Bobbi’s life will be held on Monday, Nov. 25, at 2 p.m. at Kelseyville Presbyterian Church, 4021 Third St.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Kelseyville Presbyterian Food Pantry.