Barbara Shepp died peacefully on October 5, 2025, after a decade-long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Born in 1949 in Trenton, New Jersey, Barbara attended the Trenton public schools, followed by the George School (in keeping with her Quaker upbringing), and Radcliffe (Harvard) College, where she met her life-long partner, Jon Hiatt.

Barbara lived in Berkeley, California, for three years in the 1970s, where she taught at the Berkeley School for the Deaf and in Bay Area public school special education programs. It was during her years in Berkeley that she became an avid hiker and backpacker, and learned to roll a widely admired, flawless joint.

Returning to the East Coast in 1974, Barbara received Master’s degrees in Social Work and Special Education from Boston College and Lesley College, respectively. She worked for several years as a social worker in public agencies, providing direct support to families, mostly women, assisting with issues of poverty, substance abuse, addiction, and domestic violence. It was during this period that she and Jon eloped, on a snowy December Saturday afternoon, with a justice of the peace who kept his taxi waiting in their driveway while he performed the ceremony. They then telegrammed the news to their parents and went to Cape Cod for a weekend honeymoon.

In 1978 Barbara told her employer that she would have to take an extended leave because her husband was insisting on some lengthy travel in South America. Her husband similarly told his employer that he would need to do the same, blaming it on Barbara. The two then took a self- proclaimed "sabbatical," backpacking for a year from the U.S. to the southern tip of Argentina and back—a formative experience in both of their lives.

Soon after their return, in 1981, Barbara gave birth to the first of three children, Julia Amanda. Julie was followed in 1984 by Abigail Elizabeth, and Michael William in 1989. Barbara was an extraordinary mother, making every birthday cake and Halloween costume by hand, and, almost as importantly, imbuing in all three of the children her most precious values of caring, creativity, curiosity, generosity, pacifism, humor, wit, sarcasm, and feminism. She taught her kids to advocate for their values, root for the underdogs, and find meaning in their work and family lives. She adored her children throughout her life, and they adored her.

In 1988 Barbara and the family relocated from Boston to the Washington, DC area, enabling Jon to hold various positions in the national labor movement. Throughout their fifty-plus years of marriage, Barbara was selflessly supportive of his work, including jobs that often required significant travel.

As the children got older, Barbara started volunteering at the Montgomery County Family Justice Center, supporting women who were victims of domestic violence, and advocating for them in the court system. She was thereafter hired as an advocate in that program, where she worked until her retirement in 2016. During the period of her employment and as long as she could continue after that, she was a passionate champion and voice for women and children affected by domestic violence.

Barbara was whip smart and extremely well-read, with tastes ranging from Tolstoy to Pynchon to Kingsolver. Family and friends relied on her for regular book recommendations. She also loved music and learned how to play multiple musical instruments. As all her friends and even casual acquaintances were aware, she was a devoted Bruce Springsteen fan. Early on, she was introduced to Springsteen’s manager and impressed him with her knowledge and critique of many of Bruce’s songs. This led to an invitation to travel with the E Street Band to a tour opening rehearsal, and then prime tickets at numerous concerts over many years. Her favorite show was one she took her children to at Shea Stadium in 2003, featuring a surprise appearance by Bob Dylan, and confirming for the kids that the two performers whose records were the nightly dinner preparation soundtracks throughout their childhoods were indeed the most important musicians of their time. Her last Springsteen concert was in Dublin in 2016, on one of the last of many lifetime travels with Jon.

Barbara was also an avid gardener, spending countless hours tending her beloved iris beds. She could identify any plant or flower she encountered on walks through the neighborhood and became a go-to for gardening advice among friends and neighbors.

In 2016, Barbara was gifted with the first of three grandchildren. Although her disease prevented her from becoming the hands-on grandmother that she and her children had hoped she would have the opportunity to be, she received tremendous joy from them throughout the rest of her life. Another important provider of joy was her dog Rosalita, aka Rosie, who was a devoted and loving companion, and perhaps the only beneficiary of the effects of memory loss, in the form of way too many treats.

During her years with Alzheimer’s, Barbara was cared for with unconditional love and patience by her family, and she was fortunate to be able to live at home for nearly the entire time. She also received care and kindness from professional caregivers, and the wonderful staff at Holy Cross Medical Adult Day Center and Arden Courts Memory Care.