It's with a sad heart to let you know that Barbara Schwarz (BarbaraSchwarz) recently passed away after a sudden illness.

She was an incredibly active member of our community since our forums began, posting hundreds of helpful and inspiring messages, and she contributed personal articles to our magazine. I know many of you knew her, if by correspondence alone, and are equally saddened by this news.

If you're in the Los Angeles area, a memorial service is being planned for Saturday, Jan. 21 at 3-5 PM at the Skirball Jewish Cultural Center.

Her family has set up a Barbara Leonard Schwarz Memorial Fund at Union Bank of California to benefit an orphan's school in Nagpur, India that she visited and fell in love with while visiting there in June. For more information, go to:

http://www.scriptwise.com/barb.htm

For anybody wishing to extend personal condolences, her husband, Michael Hennessy, can be reached at [email]dayamm@aol.com.[/email]

Rest in peace, Barbara. You will be sorely missed.

Mike Canales
American Bungalow Magazine

What sad news. I had the pleasure of meeting Barbara and spending several days with her when I visited Los Angeles in January 2005. She was one of the brightest spirits and most joyful souls I've ever known. Always smiling, I never heard an unkind word come from her lips.

What a loss.

Rose

Even though I posted, with regard to Barbara's passing, in the interiors section of this site, I wanted to say a few words here.

Barbara was not only an enthusiastic bungalow owner, but became a close friend. We wrote back and forth, sometimes daily, not only hashing over our bungalow woes, but sharing our personal lives. I would be very hard pressed to think of anyone, especially someone I have never met, that has had such a positive impact on my life. I thoroughly enjoyed Barbara's stories and took great joy in hearing of her accomplishments, which she enjoyed with the glee of a child, doing something for the first time. Barbara "lived life". It's as simple as that. I will miss her greatly and her passing has not only enriched my own life, but now left a vacant spot that will be awful hard to fill. The loss of a "real" friend is so very sad, and I get the feeling that many of us here have had these very thoughts.

Rick

If you've not picked up or received your latest AB, there is a tribute to Barbara (in the form of a funny article she'd written) on page 136.

What a sweet and vibrant soul.

I just got it yesterday. When I got to the end of Barbara's article and read the postscript I almost couldn't believe what I was reading. Barbara made me laugh and gave me much encouragement since I became a member of the forum, I will truly miss her wit and wisdom.