Babette L. Barron

On January 28, 2023, the beautiful voice, creative talents, and wonderfully kind-hearted spirit of Babette Barron passed peacefully from this world at her home in Monroeville, PA, following a courageous life-long battle with the struggles of chronic illness. Born in Lehighton, PA, on June 30, 1956, Babette spent most of her growing-up years in Lewistown, PA, before moving with her mother, Shirley Sterner, to Monroeville, where she completed her formal education at Gateway High School. One of the many gifts passed along to Babette from her mom was an extraordinary passion for music and singing. By her early teens, Babette was fledging her songstress wings as a vocalist with a local jazz quartet, dazzling her audiences with soulful renditions of various jazz ballads and old standards. A few years later, Babette took to the road as the female lead with a pop band, playing Holiday Inns and other east coast venues. After moving to Hilton Head, SC, with her husband, her happiest days were when she was singing at the exclusive Westin there. However, before long she began experiencing a variety of acute and undiagnosable physical symptoms that ultimately forced her to give up performing professionally. As her health continued to decline through the years, leading to a more and more reclusive existence, Babette kept her sweet spirit and love of music alive, singing and playing piano at home when she could, and turning her creative energies to making beautifully intricate and elegant custom jewelry and other crafts, while cultivating a rich inner life.  Still, in between two major brain surgeries, to address the problems from the Chiari malformation and retroflexed odontoid she was born with, as well as her ongoing health challenges, Babette managed to translate her vocal talents to the studio, where, under the orchestration of producer Buddy Hall and several talented side musicians, she created “Pieces of Dreams,” a collection of twelve songs that captured the exceptional range, depth, and quality of her vocal talents. As with everything Babette created, this CD, along with the amazing pieces of jewelry she crafted, were offered as gifts from her heart to family and friends, to live on as an enduring tribute and source of inspiration for the beautiful and giving path she forged through life.  But above all this, perhaps Babette’s greatest gifts were in her capacities - through all her struggles and suffering - to keep a kind, open, compassionate heart for others, to embrace a deep love and concern for the welfare of all animals (including the many cats she “mothered” over the years), and to show exceptional levels of courage, strength, and grace in the face of so much adversity.  If she could pass along one message to others through all of this, it would be that of instilling awareness and empathy for the often overlooked and silently suffering chronically ill amongst us. Babette was preceded in death by her mother, Shirley, her former stepfather, Charles Sterner, her father, Ralph Kreamer, and her stepson Thomas Barron Jr, whom she helped raise and loved as her own. She is survived by her loving husband Tom, her devoted sister Beth (James) Fauth and brothers, David (Georgia) and Gary (Sharon) Kreamer, her nephew and Godson Jason (Terra) Fosselman, her grandnieces Piper and Parker Fosselman, her Goddaughter Brandi Welle, her dear lifelong friends Sharon Welle and Beth Rearick, her stepdaughters Julia Barron and Eileen Fitzpatrick, and her grandson James Barron. Family and friends will be received at the JOBE FUNERAL HOME & CREMATORY, INC. (MONROEVILLE/PLUM CHAPEL) 445 Beatty Road, Monroeville (412-856-4747), where a blessing service will be February 3, 2023, at 10:30 am. Memorial contributions may be made to ASPCA at www.secure.aspca.org/donate or Doctors Without Borders at www.donate.doctorswithoutborders.org.

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