Tenth Generation

8831. Barbara Jean Widney was born on 4 December 1927 in Chicago, Cook, IL. She died on 24 September 2008 at the age of 80 in New Canaan, Fairfield, CT. Barbara Widney McKeough

Barbara Widney McKeough, longtime resident of New Canaan, died at her home on Wednesday, September 24. She was 80.

The daughter of the late John and Dorothy Widney, she was born on December 4, 1927, Chicago, Illinois. She was raised in East Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she forged endearing childhood friendships that lasted more than 70 years.

Mrs. McKeough attended Maryland College for Women and in 1949 married her high school sweetheart and best friend, Richard McKeough. The couple moved east in the early 50's. They settled in Stamford, where they raised their four children.

Family was Mrs. McKeough's first priority, and she "reveled her role" as a corporate wife and in all the various activities the children undertook, according to her family. She was a Cub Scout leader, Brownie leader, sports mom, hospital volunteer and avid reader and crossword puzzle fan. She read the sports page daily, following her favorite teams well as her children's, and "could converse with the best of them" regardless of the season or sport.

Upon retirement, she and her husband began a cruise, circumnavigating the globe several times visiting six continents. No mater how far away from home, she always remembered birthdays with ship to shore phone calls, her family reported, and she "loved all God's creatures great and small. In every country they traveled, she found a child to smile at or a dog to pet. She made friends in every port and on all the ships they traveled."

In addition to her husband of nearly 60 years, Mrs. McKeough is survived by a son, Richard B. McKeough, Jr., and his wife Quay of Darien; two daughters, Mary McKeough Tackman and her husband Bob of Fairfield, and Susan Anne McKeough of Norwalk; four grandchildren, Matthew Wall Tackman and his wife Rebecca of Norwalk, Katherine Butterfield Tackman of Philadelphia, Pa., and Walker John McKeough and Spencer Whittier McKeough of Darien, and her children's dogs, Sky, Tucker and Mookie.

She was predeceased by her son, John Wall McKeough, and two sisters. "Barbara's greatest legacy, the importance of a simple act of kindness, will live on in her children," the family said.

Services will be private. Funeral arrangements are being handled by the Leo P. Gallagher & Son Funeral Home of Stamford. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation be made in Barbara McKeough's honor to the New Canaan Volunteer Ambulance Corps, 182 South Avenue, New Canaan, CT 06840 or another charity of choice, and that "each of her friends hug someone near and dear." She had Social Security Number 563-32-4591.

Richard B. McKeough (private).

Barbara Jean Widney-82184 and Richard B. McKeough-82185 had the following children: