Barbara J. Cowart

Barbara J. Cowart, 78, passed away February 26, 2003 in her home in Francestown as a result of cancer. Mrs. Cowart was born in Brooklyn, NY to Westbrook and Margaret (Buss) Johnson, November 9, 1924. When her father died before her second birthday, Barbara and her mother moved back to the family home in Medford, MA, where she grew up. She attended a high school boarding school and graduated from Abbott Academy in Andover, MA. In 1947, Barbara married Curtis Prest and together they had four children. Her son, Charles Austin died at age 4 in 1953 and her daughter, Margaret Althea (Stuart) died at age 45 in 1998. In 1954, the Prest's moved to Francestown where they became an active part of the town. The Prest's, inspired by Barbara's creativity, became perennial Labor Day Parade winners. As recently as 2002, Barbara won another first place for her reinterpretation of her famous 1950s "Lady Godiva" entry! In the 1960s, Barbara was responsible for saving the historically important 1787 Woodbury Homestead in Francestown from destruction. In terrible shape when she purchased it, many considered the house to be beyond repair. Barbara was convinced, however, that the home should and could be saved. She hired a crew of New Hampshire craftsmen who worked for three years carefully and accurately restoring the 18 room colonial to its original beauty. Despite his long years in the trade, head carpenter Harvey Goodwin once remarked that he did many things restoring the Woodbury Homestead he had never done before. Barbara had a life-long interest in history, and was an active member of the Francestown Historical Society. She donated many significant documents that were discovered during the restoration of the Woodbury Homestead to the Society to ensure that they would remain in Francestown as a part of the town's history. She helped to raise funds for the Society by turning photographs of people's homes into counted cross-stitch replicas that were sold to the owners. Barbara's other life-long interest was music. She loved to sing and played several instruments. Over the years she served the Francestown Community Church as organist, choir member, and soprano soloist. In her later years, she was a member of the Monadnock Community Chorus. She sang with the Chorus in Carnegie Hall (New York City) and traveled with them to perform in Scandinavia. Barbara was compassionate toward those in need and animals. She supported numerous children around the world, and gave to the ASPCA and other animal care groups. After her divorce from Prest, Barbara moved to Florida where she met and married Robert "Bob" Cowart in 1972, becoming the stepmother to Bob's three children, Pam, Cheri, and Vicki. They resided in Florida for a number of years and also spent a short time in North Carolina before moving to Peterborough, NH. Traveling was Barbara's favorite activity, especially to Austria. She and Bob spent half of each year for 12 years living outside of Innsbruck, Austria. With no formal training, Barbara taught herself sufficient German to be conversational with her Austrian friends. She visited most of the European countries, including two trips to Russia. When Bob passed away in 1997, Barbara completed the cycle and returned to Francestown. Barbara is survived by two children; Loring Allyn (48) lives in California, PA, where he is a faculty member and librarian at California University of PA and Keturah "Kitty" Allison (Barker, 42) lives in Melbourne, FL, where she and her husband are surveyors; her three step-children, Pam, Cheri, and Vicki; her niece, Carol (Prest) Barr of Francestown; her 10 grandchildren; and her ex-husband, but life-long friend, Curtis Prest. A Memorial Service is planned for Saturday, March 8th at 2:00 p.m., at the Francestown Community Church. All of her friends are invited to attend.