Barbara Alice Marino

November 1, 1943 – June 12, 2021

In loving tribute to Lorraine Bassan. She died on June 23, 2021 in San Francisco, aged 91. She is survived by her sons Gabriel and David, and two grandchildren, Magdalen and Samuel, as well as her sister, Cynthia Fish. Born May 13, 1930, in Lynn, Massachusetts to her parents Benjamin and Rose (Maron) Fish, she was a graduate of Brown University in 1951. In 1959, she married her husband of 32 years, Benjamin Bassan and moved to Framingham.

After his death in 1991, she moved to San Francisco where she made a new home for herself and made many new friends who mourn her passing. A private memorial will be held in the near future in San Francisco. Please, no flowers or gifts.

We lost our sister, Barbara Alice Marino, to complications from dementia on June 12, 2021, in San Rafael. Knowing Barbara, we wouldn’t be surprised if she decided that enough is enough and crossed over to the other side to be with our relatives who were saving her a place at the dinner table, with lasagna and Italian bread and gumbo beckoning, and the poker table set up and ready to go.

Barbara had a passion for life and was uniquely talented. She was a gifted artist who created stunning and mesmerizing paintings. She was a great storyteller, writer, cook and lover of cats. She had an irreverent and sassy sense of humor that charmed friends and colleagues. If Barbara was your guest for dinner, she would bring a creative and delicious dish to share, and while you were in the kitchen basting the chicken, she would be rearranging your furniture in the living room.

After graduating from Arizona State University and moving to the Bay Area with friends, Barbara taught art education at Nueva School and to this day, several former students have spoken of how she taught them to look at people and events with a different perspective and expressed how thankful they were to have had her as a teacher. She was beloved by students and staff.

Barbara’s many talents were put to excellent use coordinating fundraising events for a variety of public figures, including Barbara Boxer and Delaine Eastin, as well as overseeing community relations at Mrs. Grossman’s Sticker Company.

Barbara loved her friends and family, especially her sisters and cousins. The cousins have been very close from an early age and spent many summer vacations and holidays together, with copious amounts of good food and laughs, where Barbara was always the life of the party. She cherished her nieces and nephews and gave them fun experiences that their parents would not have thought of, or necessarily approved.

Barbara is survived by her sisters Susan and Nina Marino. At the end, we were fortunate to spend time with Barbara at her bedside after she had passed away, letting her know how much we loved her and recounting all the many adventures she had over her lifetime and how she had made an impact on the lives of so many family members and friends. We remember her with love now and know that she will rest in peace.