Obituary: Barbara Decker Egbert

Barbara Decker Egbert lived a joyful life filled with laughter and friendship until she left us on May 22, 2025. Her joie de vivre was her most beautiful trait and her chic outfits, hats and lipstick were recognizable everywhere in her social world. She always wanted to live to be 100 until she got to her 90s. Suddenly her best friend was gone, everything hurt and it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Her advice is to live life to the fullest while you can — don't put off your dreams until you hurt too much to enjoy them!

Barbara was born in Passaic, N.J., to Harry Valentine and Winifred Decker. She met the love of her life, Thurston M. Egbert, Jr., in Spanish class in 10th grade and never looked back (nor did she learn any Spanish)! She studied art at Colby Junior College while Thurston went ROTC to Dartmouth and then joined the U.S. Navy. She swooned at the memory of Thurston in his uniform her whole life. Their lives took them from Norfolk, Va., to their homes in Cazenovia, N.Y., Paris, Geneva, Brussels and then Black Rock, Conn.