Long time Shippensburg resident and Shippensburg University faculty member Barbara Crist passed away on December 18, 2007 in Irvine, California, after a brief illness.

Barbara was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1919 and grew up in Los Angeles. She graduated from University of California Berkeley and became one of the first WAVE officers in the United States Navy during World War II. She and her late husband Tom met at the Naval Air Station in Seattle, and they were married in 1943. Following the War, Barbara and Tom lived in Cape May, New Jersey, and Shippensburg.

After raising her three children, Barbara joined the faculty at Penn Hall in Chambersburg, and earned her masters and doctorate degrees at The University of Maryland. She joined Tom on the faculty of Shippensburg University and taught learning skills to disadvantaged students. After retirement, Barbara and Tom moved back to Southern California.

Barbara is survived by her three children: daughter Deborah Crist Wilker and sons Malcolm Crist and Andy Crist, all of whom live in Southern California, and a granddaughter, Annie Wilker.