Barbara Suzanne Tomb, age 80, passed away Ad Astra on November 27, 2022, at Ascension Via Christi hospital in Manhattan, KS, with her family by her side.
Barbara was born on April 27, 1942, to Irving and Pauline (Warner) Gallup in Troy, NY. The family later moved to Tulsa, OK, where Barbara graduated from Marquette High School. She attended the University of Oklahoma and received BS and MS degrees in microbiology. During her undergraduate years, Barbara worked as a med tech assistant in a Washington, DC, hospital – she delighted in recalling her time there and was always proud to have been in the city the summer of 1963, when the March on Washington occurred.
Following her post-secondary degree, Barbara briefly moved to New Jersey to work for Merck Pharmaceutical Labs; however, she felt compelled to move closer to home and found work at the Research Clinical Pathology Lab at the University of Texas MD Anderson Hospital in Houston, TX.
It was in her building at the hospital that she met the love of her life, Andrew Spencer Tomb III, who, on their first date in February 1967, took her to a Galveston, TX, beach and showed her his new book on plants, as a budding botanist does. She fell in love with him anyway, and they married on September 2, 1967, in Tulsa, followed by a honeymoon in Mexico which allowed Spencer to collect very romantic plant specimens.
While Spencer pursued his post-secondary education at the University of Texas – Austin, Barbara worked in a university biochemistry lab. She then enrolled in night school classes to earn a high school teaching certificate and taught earth science and chemistry for two years at Crockett High School in Austin while supporting Spencer through his degree programs. She was a valuable field assistant – ever-ready to assist in plant specimen collecting in the deserts and mountains of the western United States for Spencer’s dissertation and post-graduate work.
The couple briefly lived in the suburbs of Chicago, IL, where Barbara again found work in a medical lab, before the now-family-of-three moved to Manhattan.
Barbara gave birth to three sons, Andrew and twin boys, Sean and Mark. Because of the lack of ultrasound technology at the time, they hoped her second pregnancy would produce a girl – delivery proved to be a surprise to mom, dad, and doctor, close family friend Dr. Ron Marshall, when two boys were born one after the other. Upon the birth of the twins, Barbara became a stay-at-home mother.
Later in life, Barbara worked at the K-State Sensory Analysis Center in Manhattan as a sensory analyst. She tasted various foods and sampled products from around the world and provided feedback along with her fellow analysts. She always suspected it, but it was confirmed through her work that her palette was very, very sensitive to garlic. She loved the work and her co-workers. A highlight was a working trip to Berlin, Germany, with her co-workers.
Barbara was an avid artist – sewing, needlepoint, cross-stitching, knitting, macrame, weaving, wheat weaving, smocking, painting, toll painting, and stained glass. She loved cooking and creating her own recipes. She was a prolific reader of mysteries and suspense novels, somehow always managing to place the first hold on a new book at the Manhattan Public Library just a moment before everyone else. It is unknown if there was ever a British series on PBS that she did not watch and enjoy. Christmas was a favorite holiday – the Christmas tree was always beautifully decorated, with bright, sparkling presents with homemade bows stacked underneath, the result of her year-long attempt to find just the perfect gifts. And, as the mom of three growing boys, Barbara could coupon and shop for deals with the best of them – on anything.
Her family will miss their knitted winter hats they received each Christmas, her infectious laugh, her kindness and friendship, and of course, her extraordinary cooking – cheesecake, jam cookies, the annual “Christmas goodies plate” and her special Christmas jam, German chocolate cake, lime pie, and her apple butter, orange jam, and orange marmalade.
Barbara was preceded in death by her parents, brother Joseph Gallup, and brothers-in-law Bill Taylor and Norman Brode. Survivors include her husband, Spencer Tomb of the home, sons Andrew Tomb (Amanda Meek) of Riley, KS, and Sean Tomb (Heather O’Hara) and Mark Tomb (Julie Finn), both of Lawrence, KS, and granddaughter Aleana Tomb of Olathe, KS.
Other survivors include brother Jim (Jackie) Gallup of Woodridge, VA, sisters-in-law Helen Tomb-Taylor of Conroe, TX, and Sarah Brode of Crystal Beach, TX, nieces and nephews, cousins, and friends.
Following cremation, a visitation will be held on Thursday, December 8th, from 4-6 p.m. at Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home. Memorials may be made in honor of Barbara to the Manhattan Public Library. Any memorials may be directed to the family in care of Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home, 1616 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, KS 66502.
A Celebration of Life service will occur at a later date.