[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 46 (Wednesday, March 18, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E354]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          TRIBUTE IN HONOR OF THE LIFE OF BARBARA AYMAR EARLE

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                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 18, 2015

  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the life of an 
extraordinary American, Barbara (Bobbie) Aymar Earle who passed away in 
Essex, Connecticut on December 10, 2014, in the company of her five 
children.
   Barbara was born in New York City on January 1, 1925, the daughter 
of Gordon Aymar, a noted illustrator and portrait painter, and 
Margaretta Aymar, a civic leader. She attended The Thomas School in 
Rowayton, Connecticut, Barnard College, and the Julliard School of 
Music in New York City. She played the harp professionally for a short 
time before marrying the great love of her life, Harry W. Earle, of 
Norwalk, Connecticut, upon his return in 1944 from Air Force service in 
Europe during World War II. She devoted the next thirty years to 
raising her family, to civic activities, and to writing. She co-founded 
Person-to-Person, the Connecticut-based volunteer organization that 
provides clothing, food and other necessities to those in need. She 
also spent many years as a hospice volunteer, the organization that 
assisted her during the final days of her life. More than forty years 
after she first started college, Bobbie returned to earn her Bachelor 
of Science degree, graduating summa cum laude in 1983 from the 
University of Washington/Oshkosh, at the age of 58, with a major in 
human services and a minor in music. ``Give Us This Day'', a book of 
her poems will be published in 2015.
   Bobbie is remembered for her love of life, music, gardening and 
poetry, her devotion to family and friends, and for her deep and 
lasting influence on the communities where she lived. Her daughters, 
Penrhyn Cook and Barbara Ballard; her sons, David, John and Gordon; and 
her sister Carol Armstrong survive her. She was the proud grandmother 
of eleven grandchildren: Matthew and Jonathan Earle, Geoffrey Bailey, 
Joby and Derry Earle, Margaret and Harry Kaplan-Earle, Gordon Earle, 
Benjamin and Emily Ballard, Naima Guzman, and one great granddaughter, 
Katherine Guzman. She was predeceased by her brother, Gordon Aymar, Jr. 
and by Harry Earle, her husband of 56 years.
   I met Bobbie in 1966 when the Earle family moved to California from 
Connecticut. Her husband Harry had been named Vice President of 
Marketing at the newly formed J.W. Clement Company in Palo Alto and he 
hired me to be his assistant. From that time and throughout the rest of 
our lives, Bobbie and Harry remained dear friends. She enhanced and 
blessed my life with her boundless gifts of wisdom, laughter, poetry, 
gardening tips, charity, faith, integrity, humility and her sheer joy 
of life. Across all the decades, I have never known a finer person. A 
conversation with Bobbie was always a beautiful experience, sprinkled 
with sparks of divinity. Simply put, there was no one like her. Mr. 
Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in 
honoring the life and work of Barbara Aymar Earle and in extending our 
deepest condolences to her magnificent family.

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