Barbara Claire Blue's Obituary
Barbara Claire Thomas Blue was born November 29th, 1941 in Waterbury, Connecticu to French Canadian parents, Gilford Lawrence Thomas, Sr. and Rose Marie Gelinas Thomas. Barbara passed away February 14th, 2020 in Euless, Texas at the age of 78.
While still a young girl, her parents moved the family to Bryan, Texas where Barbara grew up and graduated from Stephen F. Austin High School in 1959. In addition to high academic achievement, Barbara was an accomplished vocalist in the SFA Choir and was invited to perform on The Today Show live before a national audience. During high school, she worked in her parents’ restaurant, Gilford’s, which was located in the famed Northgate district in College Station. There, she met the love of her life, Dorsey Blue, a proud Texas A&M cadet from Hamilton, Texas.
Upon graduating from high school, she attended the University of Texas in Austin. Dorsey graduated from Texas A&M in January 1961, took his commission as a 2nd Lt. in the Army and was stationed at Ft. Lewis, Washington. In December of 1961, Barbara left the University of Texas, married Dorsey on New Year’s Eve, and joined him at Ft. Lewis.
In 1963, after completing his 2 years on active duty, Barbara & Dorsey moved to Hurst, Texas, as Dorsey had accepted an engineer position with Bell Helicopter. In 1968, their only child, Shawn Blue, was born. In 1969, they bought a new home in Bedford where Barbara lived until 2007.
French was Barbara’s first language and she had a lifelong love of the language and French culture. In 1972, she returned to college at the University of Texas at Arlington. She completed her degree in French and did student teaching at L.D. Bell High School in 1974. She was a substitute teacher, almost exclusively at Bell, until 1977. That year, she and Dorsey sadly divorced. She never remarried, and he had her heart to her death. She began working in the corporate world, first at Murray Investment and then for many years with Sun Oil Company where she did French interpretation/translation, which she greatly enjoyed.
In the mid ‘90s, she accepted an early retirement package from Sun, took a 6 month personal sabbatical, and then returned to her true passion, teaching. She taught at Hurst Jr. High as a French teacher, then soon after moved up to her beloved Trinity High School where she taught French until her retirement in 2014. Barbara’s passion for teaching was unmatched, and she gave everything she had to her students. 12 hours constituted a short workday for her, but she loved every minute of it! She was also involved in leadership of the International Baccalaureate Program from its inception at the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District.Barbara was preceded in death by her father, Gil Thomas and siblings, John Gilford Thomas and Carol Ann Thomas. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Shawn and Traci Blue of Waco, Texas. Her beloved and only grandchild, Robert Blue, a senior at Texas A&M in College Station, Texas. Barbara had many titles in her life… but her hands down favorite was “Robert’s Mimi.” She is also survived by her mother, Rose Marie Thomas, of McKinney, Texas. Her brother and sister-in-law, Gil and Ruth Thomas Jr. of Carrollton, Texas. Her sister and brother-in-law, Gene and Ryan Self of Shreveport, Louisiana. Five treasured nieces and their families: Suzanne Thomas of San Carlos, California, Deanna Field of Richardson, Texas, Susan Pejovich of Aledo, Texas, Amy Baker of Plano, Texas, and Amanda Self of Frierson, Louisiana. She is also survived by many cousins and extended family members in both the United States and Canada.
A visitation will be held from 6:00pm-8:00pm on Friday, February 28, 2020 at Lucas Funeral Home, 1321 Precinct Line Rd., Hurst, Texas, 76053. A graveside service will be held at 2:00pm on Saturday, February 29, 2020 at Restland Cemetery, 13005 Greenville Ave., Dallas, Texas, 75243, in the Cross section.
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