Barbara S. Walsh, 97, of Bryn Mawr, former Philadelphia fashion model, celebrated former board member of the Pennsylvania State Women’s Golf Association, onetime secretary of the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia, and “really calm” mother of 15, died Monday, June 9, of age-associated ailments as Beaumont at Bryn Mawr retirement community.
Born in Oil City, Pa., about 95 miles north of Pittsburgh, Mrs. Walsh followed two older sisters to Philadelphia after high school in the late 1940s. Several of her four sisters were fashion models, and she, elegant and graceful as well, was hired to model new bridal gowns, evening wear, and other clothing at shows for Bonwit Teller, John Wanamaker, and Gimbels in Philadelphia.
She was cool and stylish, her family said. “She really knew how to put herself together,” said her daughter Thérèse. “She loved her scarves.”
One of eight children, she wanted a large family of her own. So she married Bill Walsh in 1948, and, between 1949 and 1968, they reared daughters Stephanie, Pamela, Bridget, Monica, Thérèse, Hilary, Maura, and Alexandra, and sons Michael, Matthew, Timothy, Daniel, Brendan, Paul, and Andrew.
For years, Mrs. Walsh organized their crowded house in Bala Cynwyd, St. Davids, and Haverford. She served meals in shifts — hot dogs and SpaghettiOs were weekly favorites — and she told the Christian Science Monitor in a 2012 story about family dinners: “I’d have to sort of pace the food.”
She filled the family’s VW bus almost daily with her children and bags of gear for basketball, football, baseball, swimming, and golf events. She welcomed her children’s friends over on weekends, and they called her house the Walsh Hotel.
When mishaps occurred, she handled them. “She was really calm and tolerant,” said her daughter Pamela. “She wanted everybody to get along.”
Her family said in a tribute: “She loved being pregnant. To her, it was a blessing and a purpose.” Her son Paul said: “Our father said she was a saint, and we were not allowed to upset a saint.”
Her husband was an amateur golf champion and Golf Association of Philadelphia official, and he gave her clubs for Mother’s Day one year. She played field hockey and basketball in high school, and she picked up golf fast.
She made three holes-in-one, became a popular player for the Philadelphia Country Club’s women’s team, and eventually lowered her USGA handicap to 15. Off the course, she joined boards of the Pennsylvania State Women’s Golf Association and the J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship Fund.
She was active with the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia and managed the junior girls’ golf program for a time. She volunteered at benefit golf fundraisers and earned a service award from Women Golfers Give Back in 2006 and, with her husband, the first J. Wood Platt Bill and Barbara Walsh Distinguished Service Award in 2012.
“She served as an inspiration and example to me of what can be,” a friend said in a online tribute.
Barbara Geary Straub was born Dec. 26, 1927. She followed other family members to Georgetown Visitation Convent in Washington for high school and was president of the student council.
She also sang in the school choir and argued in the Debate Club. During World War II, she was a summer lifeguard at the local pool.
Mrs. Walsh was creative and crafty, and she sewed dozens of Halloween costumes for her children, and “made practically all our school projects,” her daughter Pamela said. She liked to watch golf on the weekends, and she cheered for the Eagles, Phillies, and Villanova basketball teams, “sometimes loudly and late into the night,” her family said.
She was devout and sang in the choirs at St. John Vianney Church in Gladwyne and St. Monica in Berwyn. She rarely skipped Friday night dates with her husband. The family was featured twice in the Main Line Times.
More recently, she played competitive team bridge, enjoyed puzzles and word games, and never missed the weekly video chats with her family. A relative called her a “lantern put on earth by God, always on, bright, energetic, enthusiastic, a guide for all on how to behave.”
Her daughter Hilary said: “Family was the most important thing to her.” Mrs. Walsh told the Christian Science Monitor: “It’s the together thing.”
In addition to her children, Mrs. Walsh is survived by 31 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, a sister, and other relatives. Her husband, daughter Stephanie, three sisters, and three brothers died earlier.
Services were held June 24 and 25.
Donations in her name may be made to Amigos de Jesús, Box 476, Malvern, Pa,. 19355; and the J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship Trust, Attn: William T. Walsh Endowed Scholarship, 1974 Sproul Rd., Suite 400, Broomall, Pa. 19008.
