Barbara M. Snobble

Barbara Frances Morris Snobble, worldwide traveler, devoted teacher, avid jazz fan, and much-loved mother and grandmother, died Feb. 17, 2020, in Niceville, Florida.

 She was 93.  Barbara was born March 9, 1926, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Robert H. and Marie Morris, and grew up in Kansas and Chicago, Illinois, with her sister Bobbie Herbest. She graduated from Vassar College, New York, in June 1946, where she studied liberal arts and had dreams of working at the State Department. Instead, she fell in love with the Mountain West and John “Jack” Snobble, who she married (in ski gear!) on March 27, 1947, in Aspen, Colorado. They lived in Europe, Washington, D.C., and Carbondale, Colorado, where they raised four daughters and were married nearly 50 years. Jack died in 1996. Barbara was engaged to Richard “Dick” Allenby, a childhood friend of hers and college roommate of Jack’s, from 2003 until he died in Jan. 2017.  

Although Barbara spent summers during her childhood living on a farm, she was also quite the socialite, who loved Benny Goodman and Coleman Hawkins; as a teen in Chicago, she snuck into jazz clubs to go dancing with friends. Barbara was also a dedicated student of history; at 18, she joined the Daughters of the American Revolution and remained an active member most of her life. She was also a founding member of the Roaring Fork chapter of the Colorado Archaeological Society. She taught Latin and history at Colorado Rocky Mountain School and at Colorado Mountain College. She later became the librarian at Gordon Cooper Library in Carbondale. Barbara loved to travel. After she and Jack married, they spent three years living in and traveling through Europe; enjoying rationed wine, cheese, and bread; and seeing the art and treasures of a continent recovering from WWII. Later, she visited Syria, Russia, and Egypt; led a six-week study tour through the Yucatan; sailed in Spain and Greece; rode horseback on safari in Kenya; and took one crazy bus tour through Italy. In 1987, she traveled to China, her lifelong dream.

 Barbara enjoyed the theater and performed with the Carbondale Light Opera Company in the 1970s and 1980s. She also loved to read, garden, and collect souvenirs from her travels, including an impressive doll collection. While touring Greece, Yugoslavia and Turkey in 1965, she sent home boxes of dolls to her children every two weeks. Several years ago, after living for decades in the same home in Colorado, she moved with Dick to Florida to be closer to her daughter, Cristi, and to spend time attending concerts and the theater, going to parties, and enjoying the sunshine and her beloved cat.

 Barbara is survived by her four daughters and sons-in-law, Cori Snobble and John Montgomery, Casi and Kerry Miller, Conne and Jim Bazley, and Cristi and Tim Perry; her nephew Bruce Everett and his wife Patti; and Dick’s three sons and their wives, Braden and Carolyn Allenby, Kent and Patrice Allenby, and Peter and Julie Allenby. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Leila, Arden, Kelly, Megan, Holly, Cameron, Rachael, Kendra, Richard, Kristy, and Brian; and her great-grandchildren, Wyatt, Colton, Reese, Jace, Luke, Harrison, Eloise, Tanner, and Sloane.  Memorial services will be held this July in Colorado. In lieu of flowers, please donate to hospice care.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Barbara M. Snobble, please visit our floral store.