Barbara Kay Horswell

At the family’s request, in lieu of flowers, a donation to a local animal shelter, cat rescue organization, or arts organization is suggested as a fitting way to honor Barbara for those who feel called to do so. It is with deep sorrow and even deeper love that we say goodbye to Barbara Kay Beaudry (Sterbank) Horswell (April 13, 1941- October 25, 2024). The daughter of Catheryne (Kay) and Floyd Beaudry, she leaves behind a loving family: her devoted husband Dan Horswell; children: Mary McGovern (Charlie McGovern), Bob Sterbank (Margaret King), Mark Sterbank (Leah Sterbank), Kathy Sterbank (Mel Stanley), Charlene Popp (Jason Popp) and stepson Joel Horswell; five grandchildren: Tom and Nadia McGovern, Gabrielle Sterbank, Sam Stanley, and KJ Popp; brother Bruce Beaudry (Chuck Skorupa); her four cats (Cuddles, Mittens, Prince & Princess), many friends, and countless students and choir members. Although Barbara lived far from the public eye and influence, she had a profound impact on those lucky enough to know her. She grew up in West Allis, Wisconsin, a factory town of working and lower middle class folks, many of them Catholic, who lived in modest houses pressed together on small lots, with many communities jumbled together in one place. An oldest cousin in a large extended family - Croatian immigrant on her mom’s side; French Canadian on her Dad’s - she grew up looking after her younger cousins and brother, and family remained important to her throughout her life. Music was central to her life from early on. Told as a child to “stand in the back” because she “couldn’t sing,” her parents managed to get her a piano and lessons, beginning a lifelong passion not only for making music herself – including singing! – but encouraging others to make music with her. She spent her teenage years studying piano and accompanying others, ultimately attending Alverno College as a music education major. It was at a joint choral concert between Alverno and John Carroll University that she met her first husband, Robert (Bob) Sterbank, an exceptional pianist himself. Family lore has it that - impressed by Bob’s playing - Barbara introduced herself in the middle of the dance floor at the mixer following the concert, ensuring herself an invitation to dance. A year and a half later, she left college and Milwaukee to marry him and start their family in the east-side suburbs of Cleveland. Over 40 years, they raised five (musical) children and collaborated in many musical activities, often with Barbara conducting and Bob accompanying on piano. From her earliest days in Ohio, she was involved with music. She was choral director for the SELREC singers (a community choir) and co-founder of Front Porch Swing (a show choir). She was also deeply involved in church music, leading the folk mass at St. Gregory the Great church and serving as organist there and St. Paschal Baylon church, as well as Church of the Good Shepherd. She also sang in the Blossom Festival Chorus, the summer chorus of the award-winning Cleveland Orchestra, and for at least one season, with the Cleveland Orchestra Choirs, performing choral masterworks such as Carmina Burana and the Brahms and Mahler Requiems, along with husband Bob and, for a few summers, daughter Mary and son Bob as well. When her kids were grown enough she returned to school, completed her Bachelor's Degree in Arts Administration at Ursuline College and a second Bachelor Degree in Music Education at Cleveland State University. She then spent seventeen years teaching music and leading award-winning high school show choirs, first at Brunswick High School and then at Charles F. Brush High School, where her own children had been veterans of the music program. It was true, she once observed, that while she was nervous beginning her teaching career, raising her own kids had made her sympathetic and wise to the ways of her new students. There was no hustle that any kid could try on her that she had not already encountered with her own – although, by then, she acknowledged (somewhat ruefully) that she would probably not repeat her high school graduation gift of a fifth of Canadian Club to son Bob’s best friend, Dan. Raising five children was not easy, but Barbara was absolutely devoted to her kids, ferrying them endlessly to rehearsals, practices and other activities; attending to them at different moments of their lives simultaneously. She was tremendously proud of their achievements, saving newspaper clippings of their milestones and bragging to friends, all while supporting them through their ups and downs. She made their home a welcoming gathering place for all of her children’s friends, always ready with a smile and happy to set extra places at the dinner table. She was known as “mom” to many. She likewise welcomed a menagerie of animals the kids brought home (cats, rats, gerbils, mice, turtles) in addition to two dogs large enough to herd pianos. She and Bob both encouraged all five kids to study music, and thus she found herself presiding over a menagerie of instruments as well: drums, saxophones, clarinet, flute, and other woodwinds, French and baritone horns, marimba, and of course, various keyboards, including Bob’s Steinway grand, which was the centerpiece of their home. All the kids played in the Brush Arcs Marching Band, as well as the orchestra, wind and jazz ensembles, and choirs. Son Mark went on to become a professional jazz saxophonist and teacher. To this day, music is present in all of her children’s homes. With virtually any project she took on, Barbara was unstoppable. So, too with her teaching. She not only taught her high school choir classes, she threw her all into producing musicals and directing competition show choirs, such as Brush High’s Soundsation. Her dedication to her singers and to beautiful sound was constant: it was not uncommon for casual conversations with Barbara to lead inexorably to such problems as a shortage of new baritones, temperamental sopranos, pushy parents, or intractable choreographers. But she persevered, to the delight of audiences and the satisfaction of her charges. She made every group she worked with better. This is not simply a matter of knowing music: Barbara also brought boundless energy, passion, flexibility, and diplomacy. Running a show choir involves more than singing and moves; you are managing two dozen immensely talented young people, all at a vulnerable point in their lives. She dealt with fragile egos, raging hormones, inconsistent work ethics, and fragmentary self-knowledge (think of it as a mash-up of “Glee” and “Dance Moms”). Patience was not a virtue but an absolute necessity. The payoff for her kids, their families, and audiences, was beguiling and compelling shows. Soundsation won awards, and Barbara became a respected official and member of the area show choir community. More importantly, she provided encouragement and mentoring to countless young people, many of whom have been in touch over the years to let her know what a difference she made in their lives. It was through her work with the show choirs that she first met Dan Horswell, who directed her show choir band. They later married in 2008, beginning a 16 year partnership full of love and adventure - and, of course, music. When Barbara retired from teaching, she poured her energy into other musical endeavors, including teaching private voice and piano lessons, and serving as assistant music director and accompanist for Cleveland’s “Singing Angels,” an all-city youth ensemble that performed throughout the region, appeared on television, at Disney World, and traveled internationally, including to China (with Dan often playing in the pit band). When they moved to Florida in 2016, she took up Dulcimer, joined the choir and handbell choir at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Venice, and played piano for one service a week there. She formed a choir for residents of a nearby independent living facility, and when she and Dan moved to Atlanta in 2022, she formed a choir in their own facility, talked the activities director into buying a new piano and sound equipment for the project, encouraged her neighbors to join, and held performances for residents and their families. As late as two weeks before her death, she was planning the next rehearsal and an upcoming performance. In addition to her music, Barbara loved to sew - a skill she learned from her mother. In her early adult life, she often sewed clothes for herself and her family, including a few really memorable leisure suits for Bob (iconic 70s). She later created costumes and doll clothes for her grandchildren, and when she and Dan moved to Florida, they set up a sewing room and churned out hundreds of items that they sold at local craft fairs. During the COVID pandemic, they sewed masks for family and neighbors, as well as protective wear, pillows and other items that they donated to local nursing homes. She was always creating and always giving. Barbara made friends everywhere, as easily as the rest of us blink. She was gentle and kind, generous with time and attention, sometimes confused by people, but never judgemental. She loved getting together with friends or family to play cards or Mexican Train dominoes, always sociable, never competitive. Games brought people together, and that was her joy. Community was her vocation. She was also playful; she loved flying kites and riding her three wheel bike on the path around their retirement community. She sought joy for herself and others. Sometimes in groups she was happy to say little and just observe. As with some folks who were less convinced of their own smarts at an early age, she sometimes hesitated in new or different situations. At other times, Barbara pioneered in what we now think of as “too much information.” Definitely unfiltered and occasionally profane, her sometimes unpredictable comments created some embarrassing moments for her kids (now all hilarious stories in the family lore) in part because no one expected them. Yet she was not hurtful to others. She was kind by nature, perhaps because she had experienced unkindness as a young person. Being herself, she tried to better herself. She never stopped trying to learn, never stopped wanting to be a better listener, friend, mother, companion, spouse. She was unapologetically herself, and tried to help her children and loved ones be themselves. She was always optimistic, always looked for the positive, and always had faith that somehow things would work out OK. She loved beauty in all its everyday forms. She loved flowers and at different times gardened and kept plants. You could often see her in blouses with beautiful floral patterns. She was not a birder, but was a friend to hundreds of flying beauties who came to her feeders, where she took endless delight in their plumage and variety. She welcomed flocks of sparrows and robins in Ohio, parrots in Florida, and hummingbirds on her 4th floor balcony in Atlanta. She was also an enthusiastic cat lover. She and Dan rescued and hand-fed stray kittens they found in their yard, adopting them as a second set of children. At one point they had nine felines prowling their home in Ohio. Four of them moved to Florida with Barb and Dan (Princess, Prince, Cuddles, and Mittens) who were Barbara’s constant companions and source of comfort, including during more than one hurricane evacuation. In her last years, she suffered with heart problems and Parkinson's disease, which eventually became too much for her body to bear. Throughout many hospitalizations, she was determined to live and recover, grateful for Dan’s constant support, as well as that of her children and their families. Char, Jason and KJ - living in Atlanta - made frequent visits and helped with home tasks large and small; Mark’s wife Leah, a former ICU nurse, provided not only care, but was invaluable in helping everyone understand and navigate the medical landscape she faced, and Mark, Kathy, Mary and Bob rotated in from their homes across the country to support her as needed. She deeply valued their presence and the time with them. We celebrate her life, one dedicated to loving and giving, to creating beauty and nurturing others, and to making music. She loved generously and memorably. Her family and friends, neighbors and even acquaintances will all long remember her kindness and giving, her desire always to help and support others, her warm and loving smile. In the beyond, she is no doubt already conspiring with choral master Robert Shaw, the founders of Manhattan Transfer, and maybe even Mitch Miller to bring together an Angel chorus the likes of which has never been heard, in this world or the next. Just as likely, she has already struck up a conversation with Phil Lesh, the former Grateful Dead bassist who left the planet the same day as Barbara, or Quincy Jones who left us a few days later – who knows when she might need a bass player for a small ensemble or a good arranger? But whenever we see a hummingbird or beautiful flower, or hear a few voices in harmony, she is stopping by. Wherever the world takes each of us, we are all blessed by her life of grace and love, and happy to spread as much of that love and grace as we can. Thank you Barbara. We love you dearly and miss you wholeheartedly. Rest well. A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, January 11, 2025 in Atlanta, GA Anyone interested in more information - either to attend or view a livestream - please let us know by clicking here: https://forms.gle/BJ99PVmX7gjus4EP7 - so that we can contact you with full details when they are available.

Barbara Kay Horswell

April 13, 1941 - October 25, 2024