Sybil Rebecca Barber Ibey
1917 - 2013
Sybil Rebecca Barber Ibey, 95, passed away on May 7, 2013, at the Discovery Care Centre in Hamilton.
She was born Dec. 6, 1917, in Brattleboro, VT, the second daughter of the late Scott Luther Barber and Christine Elizabeth Williams.
Sybil spent her first 12 years in Vermont. She and her sister, Muriel, spent three years at the New England Kurn Hattin Homes. They both graduated from grade eight there. Muriel was 18 months older. Sybil’s first two years of high school were in Brattleboro. She moved to Enfield, NH, where she spent the last two years of high school. Both girls worked their way through high school.
After two years of nurse’s training, Sybil married Daniel Putnam Ibey, who was a student and a friend at Enfield High School.
Dan was a carpenter. The couple had one child, Sylvia. In 1949, they went to Dillon to visit Dan’s three aunts. Two of them had ranches in the Big Hole. Dan and Sybil liked the country and decided to stay in Dillon. Sylvia attended schools in Dillon. Dan started his own building construction business. Sybil was active in the business and was the bookkeeper. They were in business for 25 years.
In 1975, Dan and Sybil divorced. Their business was sold. Sybil moved back to Enfield, NH. Sylvia remained in Dillon. Sylvia married a local boy, Dick Roberts.
They had four children.
Sybil spent the next 25 years in Enfield, where she was active in political affairs while always pursuing her interests in music and painting she had inherited from her very talented Mother. She played the organ at a small church.
In 1998, Sybil returned to Dillon after having a small stroke.
In February 2004, she moved to the Sapphire Homes in Hamilton. She was very fond of Hamilton, and also of the Sapphire Home.
Sybil was preceded in death by her parents, her sister, Muriel, and half-sister, Roene. Her first grandchild, Danny Roberts, died at the age of 17, due to an automobile accident.
Sybil is survived by: daughter Sylvia Roberts of Dillon; Sylvia’s daughter, Jacqueline Taylor (Craig) of Dillon; David Roberts (Tracey) of Dillon; and daughter Susan Mautz (Art, deceased) of West Linn, OR; and by seven great-grandchildren, three great-great grandchildren, nieces Mary Doner and Catherine Eaton, and by several other family members and close friends.
At Sybil’s request, there will be no calling hours and no service. Following cremation, interment will be at the Mountain View Cemetery in Dillon.
Brundage Funeral Home of Dillon is in charge of arrangements.
Memorial contributions may be made in the name of Sybil Barber Ibey to the New England Kurn Hatin Homes (P.O. Box 27, Westminster, VT, 05158), a nonprofit, charitable, year-round home and school for boys and girls from families affected by social or economic hardships where Sybil and her sister, Muriel, lived for three years in their youths. It is a place that was always dear to both Sybil and Muriel.
Holley Randall Smith
1922 - 2013
Holley Randall Smith passed away May 8, 2013, at the family ranch in Glen, at the age of 90, with friends and family at her side. Mom has gone on to join Dad and help get things organized, as she did during their 66 years of marriage. Together again, they will dance as they used to, and hopefully send us rain!
Holley was born in Irvington, NY, on Sept. 17, 1922, to Paul and Katherine Randall. She had two brothers and two sisters. Raised and educated in New York, she graduated from Vassar College in 1944 with a degree in economics.
Mom's upbringing prepared her for an active life of adventure in ranching, as she excelled in sports, especially diving and fencing (NOT the barbed wire kind!). Holley met E. Maynard Smith while he was attending Kings Point Merchant Marine Academy in NY, and after the war they married on July 6, 1946, in Irvington, NY. They honeymooned their way across the continent to their new home in California in a car that wouldn’t go in reverse, and thus their lifelong adventures began.
In California, Holley worked to help put Maynard through college at UC Davis, and they purchased Maynard’s family ranch in Lodi, where their four children were born. They ranched at Lodi until 1964, when they moved to the ranch in Glen–the family of six Smiths forming the 6-S Ranch. Holley did not know about ranching when she married Maynard, but she threw herself into it wholeheartedly and soon learned about raising cattle, sheep, horses, plants and the cycles and seasons of life on a ranch. She taught her kids to ride and how to identify plants, and she and Maynard would take them on family camping and fishing trips into the Sierra Mountains.
Holley was active in many organizations and was a strong patriot. She loved to visit the legislature every session, and kept close tabs on bills that affected agriculture. She loved to go to range management tours and competed in many plant ID contests in Alberta and Montana. She was always interested in learning more, keeping her finger on the pulse of what affected ranching and agriculture, and made sure that seminars, hearings and tours were attended.
When they moved to Glen, they were immediately faced with the proposed Reichle Dam on the Big Hole River a few miles from the ranch, and Holley, ever the original advocate and activist, was instrumental in halting the dam project.
Holley was a member of Society for Range Management, Montana Stockgrowers Association, Southwestern Stockmens Association, Church of the Big Hole and California Cow Belles. She served on the boards for Museum of the Rockies, the Smithsonian Institution and Beaverhead County Planning. Holley was a strong advocate for veterans of all wars, and was particularly devoted to their causes.
Holley shared her love of education throughout her lifetime. She taught French to the students at Reichle School for 20 years. She was a 4-H leader in California and Montana for almost 50 years; tales of her adventures as a chaperone at 4H Congress are legend. She taught Sunday school and played the piano and old pump organ at the Church of the Big Hole in Melrose. She played by ear, as she was not good at reading music. She enjoyed reading, doing puzzles and playing games in her spare time.
Holley was a mentor and 'adopted' mom and grandmother to an extended family of people from all over the US and many foreign countries. She and Maynard opened their home to all visitors and enjoyed sharing their Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings with a growing circle of friends and family members through the years. She was known for her homemade soups, pot roasts and for delivering hot meals on wheels to the crew branding or trailing cattle.
Holley kept the books for the ranch until recent years, and was actively involved in 6-S Ranch decisions. She said her credo to economize and recycle came from her childhood during the Great Depression. Frugality and hospitality were her hallmarks.
Holley is survived by: her four children: Katharine Smith, Brack Smith (Janet), Randy Smith (Emily) and Meg Smith; nine grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; a sister, Frances Wood of New York; nieces, nephews and friends.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Maynard, and her father, mother, two brothers, a sister and one grandson.
Organization, Education, Activism, Patriotism, Family and Community are what Holley Smith was all about. She was a great lady, and she will be sorely missed.
Memorials may be made to Church of the Big Hole, Southwestern Stockmens Association, Montana Stockgrowers Association, Beaverhead Home Health and Hospice, veterans organizations or to the donor’s choice.
Holley’s family invites friends to participate in a celebratory memorial service on May 30, 2013 at 4 p.m. at the ranch, Smith 6-S Livestock, 7450 Schoolhouse Road, Glen Montana. A reception will follow.
Posts
