Barbara R. Byron

Barbara Robins (Bobby) Byron died peacefully in her sleep on March 20th, 2023 at Country Arch Care Center in Clinton NJ. She was 98 years old, as graceful as ever.

To know Bobby was to understand the rare and complex mix that she was – with Chaucer and Mookie Betts held equal in her esteem. An ethereal beauty of the main line, she abjured Bryn Mawr and Vassar in favor of flying with TWA and spending her off days at Fenway. She married an Italian skiing and hunting enthusiast from Vermont, the accomplished scientist Thomas Tomasi, Jr., with whom she had three children: Robin, Ted, and Anne Tomasi.

She lived her life very much her own way. She had the audacity to serve chocolate sauce over ice cream to Mr. Hershey, laughing off the ensuing complement as unwarranted, even though it clearly was. She always looked fabulous in an offhand way, always seemed like her feet didn’t quite touch earth, yet she cleaned dirt from her nails each day that was hard earned. After her marriage ended, she set out to get a Ph.D. in English at SUNY at Buffalo, thriving in that rarified air of psychological interpretation, then abruptly decided academia was not for her after all and opened a knitting shop, the Wooly Lamb on Main Street in East Aurora, NY. Half the town came there to sit on her a couch and learn to knit and to chat delightfully over a cup of tea. Her tastes reflected her - both impeccable and quirky, timeless and current, charming and disarming.

At 60 she married again to Richard Byron of Buffalo. Theirs was an amazing and joyous time together, their love for one another palpable. They traveled the globe on birding expeditions, loved classical music and the Buffalo Philharmonic, good art and good food while living unpretentiously in a small cottage in Orchard Park New York filled with books and small found treasures of pinecones and stones, and seemingly ever blooming orchids. She treated all she met from every walk of life with the same warmth and genuine interest, curious to find what made you the most interesting person she had ever met. The secret to her profusely beautiful garden was simple, she said. “Put something in the ground and if it does well leave it alone, and if it doesn’t move it to a new place. If you live somewhere long enough each will find its rightful spot and thrive.” And so she lived her life – seemingly ever in bloom.

After Richard succumbed to Alzheimer’s, she moved to New Mexico to be close to her youngest, Anne Marie Tomasi, living in small, beautiful house in Albuquerque. She eventually moved to Independence Manor in Flemington NJ, an assisted living facility, as her dementia deepened. Staff and visitors found her laughing at her inability to remember a thing or say what she wanted. She declared anywhere she was to be the very best place anyone could ever be because of the lovely people who cared for her so well, each of whom she declared to be wonderful.

As one niece recalled “…she was strikingly gorgeous, kind, smart as heck, and funny; we waited in great anticipation for her to blow in, her visits wildly exciting, giving us reassurance about our gene pool.” Such sentiments were echoed by all who called or wrote with condolences. She truly was a rare and precious gem.

In addition to her husband, Richard Byron, Bobby was predeceased by her parents, James and Helen (Davis) Robins. She is survived by her daughter, Robin Tomasi of Haley Idaho, her son, Ted Tomasi of Stockton New Jersey, Anne Tomasi of Taos New Mexico, as well as her four grandchildren and a loving extended family.

She will be buried alongside her beloved Richard in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo NY on May 12, 2023 at 11:00 am. Bobby will be dearly missed and yet always with those who knew her, she having infused each of us with a bit of her delight at the gift of being able to live a life.

Funeral and cremation arrangements are under the direction of Holcombe-Fisher Funeral Home, 147 Main Street, Flemington NJ 08822. For further information or to leave an online condolence, please visit www.holcombefisher.com.