ADDISON — Barbara Ciliotta Catlin passed away peacefully on Aug. 8, 2020, at her home with her family by her side after a long battle with Alzheimers. She was born Nov. 10, 1933, and raised in the Bronx by her young immigrant family.
She became the executive secretary to the president of McGraw Hill, but city life was not for her and she booked passage on a tramp steamer to Europe, where she travelled alone. She spent several weeks visiting relatives in Valle Di Cadore, a small hill town in the Italian Alps where her Father was from. Upon returning to the states she booked a ski week at Mt. Snow, where she also worked at a ski lodge. It was here she met her husband Dick, who had stopped to visit the owner friends. It was love at first sight and Dick proposed nine days later. She told him he was nuts, that they hardly knew each other. But she followed him to Pensacola, Fla., where he was a Navy flight instructor and three months later they were married. And that marriage lasted 61 wonderful years.
In 1963 Dick and Barbara started Timberlock, an Adirondack family summer vacation resort. Barbara supervised the cooks, menus, girls’ staff, ran the office, reservations, and was mom to hundreds of staff and guests. Everyone loved her ready smile, calm demeanor and attention to detail. She knew all the guests’ names and the personal contact made Timberlock a success. The outpouring of notes and cards from past guests and staff has been overwhelming. She was Mom to hundreds of high school and college staff. One quote from a former staff: “She walked with such grace and strength — the kind where she didn’t need to be the center of attention, yet everyone noticed her. Barbie’s presence radiated beauty but the goodness of her heart spoke truth.”
Barbara had many abilities. She was a black diamond skier, runner, gardener, and homemaker. She was an excellent cook and loved giving dinner parties. She enjoyed annual backpacking trips to the west and southwest. She also loved horses and for many years had a dressage horse. She and her husband also liked to take guided horse packing trips in Wyoming. Barbara also started a woman’s book club while living in Woodstock, Vt.
In the seventies, the family bought a run down shack on a tiny island in the Bahamas. Over the years, they would take spring trips there, improving the cabin and making long time friends with the locals who adored Barbara. Dick and Barb moved to Vermont in the early sixties where home was an old hill farm in Woodstock. In 2004 they moved to Addison to be closer to their children. Barbara is survived by her husband, Dick; son Bruce from Lincoln, Vt.; and daughter Toni from Winooski, Vt. She is also survived by two sisters, Rita and Ginny; son-in-law Erik Leo; daughter-in-law Holly; grandchildren Nick, Caroline and Gus and numerous relatives.◊