Barbara Ann Falkenstine (nee Wilmoth) died of pancreatic cancer on Saturday, December 29, 2018 at her home in Leesburg, Virginia.

She was the only child born to Maxine and Glen Wilmoth on October 2, 1943 in Clarksburg, WV and her elbow was broken as she was being delivered.  The doctor put her arm in a cast causing the bones to grow together leaving her without a working elbow. While she never learned to swim, ride a bike or play any sports she didn't let it stop her from holding a book (or a credit card).

Barbara graduated from Washington Irving High School in 1961. After attending one year of college at West Virginia University, she took off for the Jersey Shore. She lived there for the summer while working at a jewelry store (this would kick off a life long love of all things sparkly, as well as, a hatred of sand).

She then tackled secretarial school and found herself working for the U.S.  Government. That was where she met Milford "Harvey" Falkenstine. The couple married and settled in Alexandria, VA, both working at the Pentagon. They had one daughter (Valerie Falkenstine Hollis) and left the big city for Sterling, Virginia. While living in Sterling, Barbara wanted to go back to work part-time but could not find a childcare option that worked for the family. So she started her own daycare co-op in what had been a barn. By the time the money was raised, the building renovated, the teachers hired and the students signed up, Valerie was old enough to go to pre-school and never even attended the "school" her mom had built. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Leesburg.

In Leesburg, Barbara worked at different medical facilities, but ultimately landed in a pediatricians' office and stayed there for many years. The past 15 years she worked at Loudoun Medical Group where she made many good friends and maintained an overflowing snack drawer that could feed the entire office if necessary.

In addition to volunteering and fighting cancer (colon and endometrial before the pancreatic), she spent copious amounts of time on her two great passions… reading and shopping. She found a way to combine them (and her volunteering) by joining the board of the Loudoun Library Foundation. While at their annual sale, buying books of course, she criticized how some of the books were being displayed.  The gal managing the table told her that if she thought she could do a better job, she was welcome to it. The rest, as they say, is history.

Barbara collected friends as easily has she collected shoes. Young and old, male and female, everyone who met her was attracted to her spirit, gregariousness, and feistiness. And she found something interesting, genuine and of worthwhile in everyone she met. Barbara liked to have fun and was nearly always smiling or laughing.

Barbara is preceded in death by her parents and husband. She leaves behind her daughter, Valerie, and her husband Spencer Hollis as well as their children Nicholas Mazza (21), Maccabi (10) and Ainsley (10) who she loved endlessly and were the beneficiaries of her passion for shopping and books.

Visitation will be held on Friday, January 4, 2019 from 10:00 am to 11:00 am followed by a service beginning at 11:00 am at Colonial Funeral Home of Leesburg, 201 Edwards Ferry Rd, NE, Leesburg, VA 20176.  Interment will immediately follow at Union Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Loudoun Library Foundation, Inc. at LLF, P.O. Box 104, Leesburg, VA 20178.