Barbara B.L. Trafford

Barbara B. L. Trafford passed away at home just before the New Year. Born in Binghamton, NY in 1925 to Dr. Roland Frank Beers, of New York, and his wife Helen Clark Beers, whose ancestors came from West Rupert, Vermont, she grew up in Dallas and summered at the family’s Blueberry Hill Farm in Goshen, Vermont. in the thirties and forties. A pre-med graduate of Mt Holyoke, she married Harvard student and decorated World War II veteran David Langstaff in 1947. Upon his graduation they moved from Lincoln, Massachusetts to Troy, New York and began a family. There, they taught ballroom dancing at Arthur Murray and acted in Little Theater. He worked as a journalist, Barbara as a medical technician and physician’s assistant then and again upon her return from Europe. David joined the State Department in 1954. They sailed to Le Havre, France on the SS America with the first three children. Her husband’s work as an Amerika Haus director and later as US Cultural Attaché included many exchanges of artists between the States and Europe, entertaining luminaries such as Louis Armstrong and Isaac Stern at parties in the family homes. The Langstaffs lived in Germany, where son Peter was born, Italy, France, where last child Barbara arrived, and Holland until the early 60’s, then in the Congo in the late 60’s. Barbara moved the family from Alexandria, VA to Manchester Village on 1969’s Woodstock weekend. Very slow trip. She became a realtor and owner of Owl’s Nest Art Supplies. Barbara married Herbert Trafford in 1971, and was very active in the First Congregational Church and the Dorset Players. She is pre-deceased by her parents, brother Roland, two husbands, and many friends. She is survived by Dorset-resident children Stephen and Peter Langstaff , Robin Langstaff-French, Barbara Comollo, and Susan Langstaff Villas Boas of Rio de Janeiro; also by nine grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren. Much loved by her community and family, she lived a very full life and was a wonderful mother. She will be sorely missed. We plan a memorial event for the spring.