Barbara landed in Pine Mountain, GA, having spent the first eleven years of her life in Des Moines, Iowa, then sixteen years in Springfield, Illinois and twenty-three years in Scottsdale, Arizona. She is an avid horse person who loves to be outdoors horseback riding, hiking, biking, swimming, and all things active.
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Arizona provided the most memorable times of her life. Barbara graduated Summa Cum Laude from Arizona State University with a B.S. in Human Resource Management. Graduate experience in the insurance industry contributed to Barbara assisting with a startup company, Excess and Surplus Lines a subsidiary of a larger insurer (like Lloyds’ of London), in Scottsdale. The firm grew from two employees to over one thousand and earning one billion dollars in annual premium income. Barbara served as Vice President of Human Resources for the new firm. Like the Apache Indian Chief, Cochise surrendered in Arizona as Barbara did to Jim, a LaGrange, Georgia native. Jim was affiliated with Milliken & Company and considered Arizona a whistle stop which would eventually lead him back to a corporate role with the firm in Georgia. Their union produced two sons that joined Barbara’s daughter from a previous marriage.
Jim eventually started his own commercial floor covering firm and after fourteen years at the Scottsdale insurance company, Barbara joined him as office manager to take advantage of a slower pace of life which gave her more time to enjoy her children. This lifestyle allowed the opportunity to take the children hiking, including two treks down and up the Grand Canyon, and to enjoy snow skiing at their cabin in the White Mountains of Arizona.
In 2000 while visiting Georgia, they found a gorgeous home and property in Pine Mountain. After;)
relocating, her sons matriculated at Harris County High and then the University of Georgia (Jim’s Alma Mater). Jay, age 28, has a master’s degree and is working in Atlanta for a startup tech firm. Jeff, age 27, is a third-year Mercer medical student. Barbara’s daughter and grandson continue to reside in Arizona. Barbara and Jim have an array of animals on their forty-five acre farm in Pine Mountain. Since relocating to Pine Mountain, Barbara has worked for AFLAC in Columbus, Colonial Bank in Montgomery, Alabama and presently Synovus Financial in Columbus as Compensation Manager and as a Consultant.
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Lacing up her running shoes later in life, Barbara’s first race was the 2009 Warm Springs Candle Light Tour 5K where she hoped to just finish but was surprised to be first in her age group. In her next race at Callaway Garden, she once again was first in her age group. She then discovered that fellow runners were not only running back-to-back races, but accumulating points in the Run and See Georgia series, Black Bag series, and Clover Glove series. As Barbara describes it, “It gets in your blood and the runners are all so nice and supportive.”
Barbara has worked up to the half-marathon distance and participated in three in January 2014. Returning to work at Synovus and responsibilities on the farm limited Barbara to a goal of 1,000 jacket points in 2013. Although not getting any faster (PR: 5K-27:06 and 10K-56:50), she hopes to continue running for many years to come to the anguish of those in her age group where she finished fifth in the Run and See Georgia and fourth in her age group for the Black Bag race series.
Bob checking out from the back of the pack. Watch for the profile on Watkinsville area youthful runner Randy Ballew and later on Melinda Black.