ASTORIA — Friends and colleagues are mourning the passing of Barbara Minard on Feb. 20, 2016, in Astoria, Oregon. She was born May 16, 1947, in Wisconsin.

Barbara received her Bachelor of Science in Natural Resource Management from Colorado State University, College of Forestry and Natural Resource Management, Fort Collins, Colorado in 1970.

For 23 years, from 1965 to 1991, she served the National Park Service as a seasonal interpretive specialist at sites throughout the west, including Zion National Park, Glacier Bay National Monument, Sitka National Historical Park, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, and Fort Clatsop National Memorial. She received the National Park Service Special Achievement Award in 1982, ‘83, ‘85, ‘86 and 1991. In 1983 she received the “Freeman Tilden Interpreter Award” for the Alaska region.

Barbara left her mark on many institutions in the lower Columbia region. From 1989 to 1994 Barbara was Collections Manager at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria. Her sincere belief in the importance of the artifact lead her to undertake and receive her Graduate Diploma in Cultural Resource Management and Conservation from the University of Victoria, in 1991. Over the years she consulted with many museums, including the Clatsop County Historical Society, the Cowlitz County Historical Museum and the John Spellman Library, Grays Harbor College, Aberdeen among them.

In addition to her museum work she was a dedicated and inspired teacher. From 1990 until 2007 she was an Elderhostel instructor, conducting 65 courses in Astoria and Cannon Beach. She gave numerous workshops and presentations on a wide variety of subjects, such as the care of family heirlooms, Native American baskets, and Lewis and Clark on the lower Columbia. Her workshops were entertaining, empowering and informative.

For the past 20 years Barbara worked with the collections of the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum (formerly the Ilwaco Heritage Museum). She began in 1995 as a consultant to assess the museum’s American Indian collection and stayed involved to help create one of the best small museums in the region.

In 2010 Barbara Minard was awarded the Washington Museum Association’s “Award of Excellence: Museum Professional” for her unfailing dedication to the preservation of artifacts and information.

At her request there is to be no service. Memorials may be made to the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum, P.O. Box 153, Ilwaco, WA 98624.