Barbara Lee Fessier

Barbara was born May 29, 1925 to Ruben Ericson, who owned or operated two substantial farms in the Southwest, and Matilda Ericson, one of five sisters sent through college by their widowed Danish mother before women gained the right to vote.

Barbara, nicknamed “Bobbye,” was born 12 pounds, two ounces. But she grew up frail. She was kept out of elementary school at the end of every year due to anemia. But her independent studies during those periods were so extensive, when her family headed west during the depths of the Depression in 1937, Bobbye’s California school district skipped her a grade.

She was 5-foot 2, eyes of blue, with a love of music she shared with an older boy at Whittier High School. Elton Fessier played trumpet in local swing orchestras, and he and Bobbye danced in ballrooms to the big bands. Glenn Miller was their favorite, especially his 1939 hit, “In the Mood.”

Elton volunteered for World War II in 1943, serving in underwater demolition as a Navy “frogman.” Bobbye attended Redlands University, studying piano, until a car accident landed her in a hospital with a leg in a sling for three months. Doctors prescribed painkillers and she eventually went back to Whittier College. She graduated in 1950 after serving as president of the Home Economics Club.

But her best education may have come from working at Quaker City Savings & Loan in Whittier. She learned the practicalities of business from her mentor, bank president Doug Ferguson.

Elton returned from the war with a desire to serve his community. He married Bobbye in 1948 after taking his first teaching job in a low-income neighborhood. He soon moved to Sorensen Elementary School and helped start a county park as its athletic director. Bobbye helped plan events while also playing the dutiful housewife in that “Father Knows Best” era.

They had two children, Bruce and Lori, and Bobbye became active in the PTA, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Indian Guides, church activities, reading palms at backyard carnivals… all while enduring debilitating headaches. She was the family visionary, planning summer vacations and saving blueprints for a dream home. When it appeared she wasn’t going to achieve her dreams on a teacher’s salary, she developed entrepreneurial visions.

Thus began the transformation of Barbara Fessier.

By 1965, the Fessiers had saved enough money to buy four duplex apartments, and Bobbye found a new calling as a landlord. Her grandkids, Clay and Parker, called her the nicest landlady ever. She actually gained joy from seeing her tenants happy. She never evicted anyone in more than 50 years.

Bobbye took graduate classes at Long Beach State University, became a substitute teacher and assisted her brother-in-law, Tom Sinclair, in his tax preparation business. She and Elton purchased a lot near Lake Gregory and planned to build a chalet. But the Rev. Sun Myung Moon bought a private club on the lake and property values tumbled. The lot sold for a loss as fear spread that “the Moonies” were coming.

But Bobbye continued building her rental business while staying active with her bridge group and raising teens into the early ‘70s. There were always headaches, but prescription drugs dulled the pain.

Then, during a perfunctory checkup, her family physician began to walk out of his office and Bobbye insisted he feel her arm. It was cold. No circulation. Heart bypass surgery was advised, but Bobbye said no. She read up on her condition and discovered heart bypass surgery could reduce one’s life expectancy. Lori suggested visiting the UCLA Pain Control Center and she received biofeedback – an almost Pavlovian exercise using bells and whistles to help patients will themselves to improved health. She learned to visualize her blood flowing and began to study vitamin supplements and homeopathy.

Thus began Chapter Three of Barbara’s life.

She got off drugs and saw an acupuncturist. Eventually, she received regular care from a remarkable osteopath who is the only non-family member invited to Bobbye’s funeral, Dr. Lorane Dick.

Once Bobbye got off drugs, and her kids graduated from college, she lived life with gusto. She found her dream home, a literal manifestation of a vision, and moved in. Bruce became a newspaper columnist in Palm Springs in 1979, and Bobbye and Elton soon had their own bedroom in a weekend getaway home. They’d go to the Racquet Club with Tom and Bobbye’s sister, Pat, who had a condo almost across the street from the old movie star hangout. They’d go to desert Dixieland jazz festivals and stage shows, including two starring Jane Cannedy, who became their daughter-in-law in 1984.

Lori graduated from USC law school in 1983 and practiced in New Orleans. So Bobbye and Elton had a place to stay in New Orleans for a while. Following Lori’s return to Whittier, she met and fell in love with Mark Gibson and adopted Mark’s son, Heath, now called Eitan. Later, his sister, Ashley, and kids Gabriel, Madilyn and Jocelyn, and Clay’s long-time girlfriend, Kendra Melton, became part of Bobbye and Elton’s family. The couple traveled the world during their 66-year marriage. In 1995, Bobbye flew an airplane to celebrate her 70th birthday. When Bobbye and Elton’s health proved fickle, their family and Bobbye’s dream home provided comfort. Bobbye passed there while taking a nap. Elton died in his bed in 2015.

Few from her youth expected Bobbye to live to 60. It wasn’t always easy. But, as all the tributes on Facebook attest, it was a wonderful life.

A private funeral is planned at Rose Hills Memorial Park. A Zoom production of it will be presented at 3 p.m. June 4, concluding with an opportunity for viewers to share their memories of Bobbye at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89069289590. It will then be posted on the Whittier Presbyterian Church website, www.whitpresby.org