Barbara "Babs" Haire

Barbara Gail 'Babs' Haire


Barbara Haire, 68, of Pearland, Texas, went to her heavenly home in the early morning on Saturday, July 23, 2022. She passed away at Houston Methodist Hospital where she had undergone successful open-heart bypass surgery with a septal myectomy four days earlier. On Tuesday morning, she suffered two strokes from which recovery was not possible.

She was born Barbara Gail Haire on June 26, 1954, in Littlefield, Texas. She was the second of three daughters of Lloyd Fredrick Haire and Martha Vera Smith Haire. Babs, as she was known until she entered college, lived on her parents' family farm in the Spade Community in Lamb County, Texas, until she was 2 years old. She was selected as winner of the title "Little Miss Lamb County" when she was about a year and a half old.

In 1956, the family moved to a new family farm near Muleshoe, Bailey County, Texas. Babs was a 1971 honor graduate of Muleshoe High School at the age of 16. During high school, she was a member of the National Honor Society, a National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Finalist, winner of her high school's Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow award and placed third in the state of Texas. Babs was a listee in the Biography of International Youth in Achievement, First World Edition, during her senior year.

Barbara earned a Bachelor of Arts in Honors Studies degree and a Master of Business Administration degree from Texas Tech University. She served as a Teaching and Research Assistant in the School of Business while a graduate student. She later completed a Master of Education degree in Counseling.

She held Texas Department of Health licenses as a Professional Counselor, Marriage and Family Therapist, and Speech-Language Pathologist. She held Texas Teacher Certification in the areas of Speech and Hearing Therapy, Secondary Business Administration, and Secondary Psychology, as well as professional-level certification as an Educational Diagnostician, Counselor, and Special Education Counselor.

Barbara moved to Abilene, Texas in 1986. She and her sister, Carol, developed plans for the Haire Speech, Language, and Learning Center located in Antilley Medical Plaza in Abilene where she served as Associate Director. She also provided counseling services to patients in area nursing homes and taught Sign Language for the Deaf and Signing Exact English classes at a local university.

Barbara enjoyed volunteering her time. While in Abilene, she was a regular volunteer for an animal adoption and services organization. She also volunteered with the City of Abilene Police Department as an Assistant for the Deaf and Hearing-Impaired.

Barbara was preceded in death by her father Lloyd Fredrick Haire in 1982 and her mother Martha Vera Smith Haire in 2016. Those left to cherish her memory are her older sister Dr. Carol D. Haire of Pearland, Texas, and her younger sister Sue M. Lombardi, her husband, Robert C. Lombardi, and their two sons, Michael Lloyd Lombardi and Daniel Charles Lombardi, also of Pearland. Barbara loved being Michael's and Daniel's aunt. She is also survived by her maternal uncle C. P. 'Pac' Smith and his wife Joyce of Hale Center, Texas, and numerous first cousins and their families.

A funeral service will be held at 10:00 AM Thursday, July 28, 2022, in the Elmwood Funeral Home Chapel, 5750 Hwy 277 South, Abilene, Texas, with burial near her beloved parents at Elmwood Memorial Park, Abilene.