Barbara L. Watkins, 84, died August 1, 2025. A Celebration of Life will be held September 27, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. at Broken Arrow Park Shelter, 2800 Louisiana St., Lawrence, KS.
Barbara Lynne (Gowan) Watkins, of Lawrence, Kansas, died August 1, 2025. She was born June 25, 1941, in Ames, Iowa, to Arthur Mitchell Gowan and Marjorie Mace Gowan. She was an ornery child and a tomboy and loved to play outside and help her father tend his gardens. Barbara graduated from Ames High School in 1959 and Iowa State University in 1963. She later earned MEd and PhD degrees from the University of Kansas. She was awarded a United States Department of Justice graduate research fellowship for her dissertation research.
In the 1960s, she taught English and history at secondary schools in Brown County, Indiana, and ESL at the Immanuel Kant Hochschule in Neumunster, Germany, and the University of Kiel, Germany. She was an editor and coordinator of distance learning at the University of Kansas Continuing Education for 38 years, retiring in 2007. She also coordinated the Kansas Studies Program and coedited several books on the history of the University of Kansas and Lawrence. In addition, she was project coordinator and editor for a series of interviews with Lawrence/Douglas County African Americans. She received several regional and national awards for these projects and was the recipient of multiple national and regional awards for her work as co-director of the Langston Hughes National Poetry Project. Twice she received the NUCEA Award for Continuing Excellence in Programming in the Arts, Sciences and Humanities.
She served as a Girl Scout leader; vice-president of the Lawrence Community Nursery School board; president of the Independence, Inc, board and the Westwood Homeowners Association; a member of the University of Kansas Faculty Senate; and on the boards of Historic Mount Oread Friends, Douglas County Legal Aid Society, and several other local and national organizations.
In 1973 she was named an Outstanding Young Woman of America. In 2001 she received the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center Lifetime Achievement Award for Community Service, and in 2002 she was inducted into the University of Kansas Women’s Hall of Fame.
Following her retirement from KU she was a partner in the web design company KLW-Webwork. She also edited several books and museum exhibit texts and wrote articles and book reviews for The Best Times, the Johnson County and Douglas County, Kansas, senior citizens newspapers; and the Jayhawk Audubon Society Newsletter.
In l963 she married Donald Watkins. They later divorced. She is survived by their daughter, Alison Watkins, and son, Aaron Watkins, and his wife, Dawna, and grandsons, Nicholas and Xanthus Watkins; her sister, Sandra Kirk, and the families of her daughters, Donna Kirk-Swaffar and Kim Kirk Polson; and her sponsored child Sandhiya in India.
She was a passionate gardener, raising hostas primarily; dog owner, especially her beloved Great Pyrenees; an avid tennis player, winning several city, university, and state championships; and loved to spend quality time with dear friends, hiking, cross-country skiing, and reading.
Barbara supported local organizations including Health Care Access, Douglas County Senior Services, Visiting Nurses, the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, the Lawrence Public Library, the Lawrence Humane Society; and national and international organizations including the Audubon Society, UNICEF Children’s Fund, Oxfam, Doctors without Borders, Charity: Water, and Amnesty International.
As she wished, there will be no funeral or memorial service. She requested a green burial—preferably in her backyard so she could become compost for future generations of her beloved hostas. Memorials can be sent, in her name, to the charity of your choice.
Until she died, she continued to be trouble–of the best sort.
“I give you this one thought to keep – I am with you still – I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow; I am the diamond glint on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain; I am the gentle autumn rain. When you awaken in the morning hush, I am the swift uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight. I am the soft star that shines at night. Do not think of me as gone – I am with you still – in each new dawn.”
A final thought: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”
Global Ministries Child and Elder Sponsorship Program offer our sincere condolences to the family of Dr. Barbara Watkins. She has been a sponsor through our program since 2009. We have had several opportunities to talk, as she was always looking for other ways to assist her sponsored child, Sandhiya.
May your hearts be comforted in knowing the legacy she left behind in the many people and agencies she touched with her life.
I read about Barb’s death with sadness and regret. My late wife Sarah Trulove and I were friends of hers over a number of years. We worked together with her on developing the Independent Study version of the Western Civ courses and on other projects as well. We also enjoyed outdoor suppers with Barb on the patio overlooking her beautiful back yard. I could usually predict that the first question she would ask after we arrived would be “What are you reading?” and the conversation was off and running. Barb was truly
gifted and remarkable in the range of her interests and achievements, her boundless energy, and the many ways in which she contributed to the life of the KU and Lawrence communities. I cherish my copies of the books she co-authored and -edited on KU history. I regret that in the months and years following Sarah’s death I didn’t stay in contact, and now I can only join many others who knew her in mourning our loss.
The Family Village Farm in South India extends its deepest condolences to the family of Dr. Barbara Watkins. She was a tremendous supporter of the orphanage, having sponsored a young girl named Sandhiya from her early childhood until Sandhiya completed her General Nursing and Midwifery program at the prestigious Christian Medical College in Vellore, India.
Dr. Barbara stayed in touch with Sandhiya, never missing her birthdays or festivals, and always sending thoughtful cards and gifts. She became an integral part of Sandhiya’s journey, supporting her every step of the way. Dr. Barbara went above and beyond to help Sandhiya build her self-esteem and confidence. Today, Sandhiya is a well-rounded and dignified young woman, largely thanks to Barbara’s encouragement, motivation, and financial support.
May the Lord fill your hearts with His peace and comfort.
Dr. Barbara Watkins will be remembered by the Family Village Farm as an icon of hope for the hopeless children.
Although I was only a secretary in Continuing Ed’s office of independent Study, Barb had the uncanny ability to make me feel like I was a real asset to the office, like there was nothing I couldn’t do well. She honestly believed in and brought out the best in people, and she did it with a delightful sense of humor and a twinkle in her eye. I remember staff parties in her beautiful garden, and I think of her everytime I water my Hostas. It is hard to believe that someone with so much love and vitality is gone. But oh, the legacy she has left! Barb, you will be missed!!
So sorry to hear about the passing of your mother.
Peace and love to all!
Alison:
I am sorry to hear about your loss. May your memories comfort you. you.
Barbara was my phantom editor for the book I authored, titled “Mawson’s Mission” (2020), which became one of the 15 books selected by the Kansas Library Association as best of the year. I first met Barbara on the Douglas County Tax Preparation phone line, when she called for a tax appointment in January 2018, after which she asked if I had worked at KU; and when I explained my appointment there beginning in 1968, she told me that I should write a book. I replied that I had already written a manuscript for a book that had been rejected a couple of months earlier by the University Press of Kansas, but that I had begun to re-write the book with revisions and reduced chapters as required by the publisher. Barbara surprisingly offered to be my editor, and I told her I’d contact her when I had a revised version completed. In June 2018, I contacted her on email and asked if she was still interested in editing, and she agreed after reviewing the first three chapters of my revisions. For the next ten months, she read every word I re-wrote weekly and responded on emails with editing criticisms, editing the full manuscript twice, and then she directed me to find photographs from the KU archives to insert. In April 2019, Barbara told me to send the manuscript to UPK again, that it was “ready.” This time I was contacted by the UPK Editor in Chief about interest in the book’s publication, and by October 2019 the manuscript had received strong endorsements from outside reviewers and the UPK Board’s approval for publication. In summer 2019, I received a call from the LMH hospital ER as I was volunteering at the Information Desk, informing me that a patient in the ER had asked for me. When I went there, I met Barbara in person for the first time! She told me she was there for tests and that she would be released within an hour and announced that I could take her home! I already understood her commanding personality but learned that it extended past editing. She directed me which streets to take to her home and then told me to walk into her back yard and observe her hostas while she went inside to take care of her kids, which surprisingly turned out to be her cat and dog. My book was released on zoom by UPK on July 30, 2020, my 80th birthday. Although I only saw Barbara one more time, when I took her a copy of my published book, she often wrote to me on emails, and encouraged me to write more books. She informed me that she had become a recluse from social gatherings because she had lost much of her hearing. I don’t believe that any of my words were ever sufficient enough to let her know how much I appreciated her dedication in getting my book published. But I know she was proud to have been instrumental in the book’s eminent success! She was a dear acquaintance of mine, and I will miss her.
Condolences to the family. I worked with Barbara on several projects over the years and always was a delight. I had the good fortune to have Allison working in my office whenI was a KU dean, and Barbara’s DNA was clearly there.
Barb and I became friends over 20 years ago after I worked with her on a grant-funded project at KU. It turned out that we were neighbors and both avid gardeners. We shared garden tours, which launched a monthly “garden ladies” get-together to talk about “life, the universe, and everything,” as well as gardening. Barb was great at helping one see different perspectives. For example, she introduced me to the beauty of the hosta, a family of plants I’d discounted as boring, and taught me the value of foliage plants to create interesting shapes and textures in a garden, a dimension I hadn’t really thought about. My subsequent garden designs have incorporated those lessons in addition to an array of flowering plants to provide season-long color. Each spring for years, I somehow found myself driving Barb around to all the area garden centers (and occasionally further afield); returning with a carful of plants, few of them mine. It was always interesting to see how she fit them into her garden design. I was inspired, too, by Barb’s approach to retirement. Seeking and maintaining connection, she regularly brought people into her home and gardens for conversations over wine and treats, actively engaged in a multitude of community efforts, partnered in a start-up, and faced down bouts of serious illness with humor and courage. For Barb, retirement was a beginning, not an end. I am comforted by the thought that she would see her latest transition as simply another beginning. She lives on, not only in the “winds that blow and the diamond glint on snow,” but in the hearts and minds of all the people she has touched across a well-lived life.
I’ve never known a more creative prankster than Barb. You never knew when she might unleash a practical joke on a colleague, some of which were directed at me! But, she was a good friend with whom I shared many laughs and tears!
What a force Barbara was! She was intelligent, curious, compassionate and hard-working. I am so impressed with her relentless work to better her communities – whether it was Lawrence, KU or her backyard. I have fond memories of her when I was a teenager. She was one of the few adults that I found easy to talk to. Sending love to Alison, Aaron and all the family.
What a nice lady and a truly gentle person. Can more be said?
She will be missed. A great influence on a great many people.
So glad Barbara was my “colorful” aunt! ;0)
Remembering family visits to that beautiful back yard tucked out of sight and almost out of earshot of Iowa Street (kind of fitting that her time in Kansas was spent so close to a street named for her home state). I’ll be missing her random emails with an article she thought someone in the family might appreciate. I’ve already been missing her queries on my Facebook nature posts wondering what exact plant I had photographed this time. She was a lifeline for Nate during Covid, providing him a free parking space in her driveway when he opted not to risk a KU residence hall his freshman year. I loved that he got to walk the same road to Stauffer Flint that I did as a Jayhawk. Once in a while they connected for a short conversation, but usually he just returned to find a baggie of some sort of very Barb cookie or bread tucked under his windshield wiper (if you know, you know). She was also responsible for finding Steve his first “grownup” dog from a litter of abandoned Pyrenees mix pups, one of which she had already claimed.
Keeping you all in our hearts. Peace and strength for the journey.