Barbara Jean Bousquet

Barbara Bousquet passed away April 3rd, 2016, at Hillside Retirement Skilled Nursing, in McMinnville, Oregon, after 17 years of declining health after a battle with cancer. She was supported by her son and daughter-in-law. Barbara was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1939 to Victor Herbert and Lilly Mathelde Brooks. She was an only child. Growing up she loved horses and spent as much of her time with horses as she could. She attended Beaverton High School. She later attended Oregon State University graduating with a Bachelor’s of Science in 1961. She added a teaching endorsement in 1962. In 1963 she married Robert Albert Bousquet on August 3rd. The young couple moved to Sherwood, Oregon where they would have their only child, David. Barbara spent her entire working career as an educator in Portland Public Schools. She spent her first few years at Wilson High School but spent the vast majority of her career at Franklin High School. Barbara taught various levels of English ending with teaching Honors English. Her true passion was teaching a combined discipline course about American Government which culminated every year with a trip with the students to Washington D.C. She believed very strongly that it was critical for youth to understand how their government worked so they could be active contributors to making America a better place to live. She was also a tireless advocate for disadvantaged students at Franklin High School. She was a long time Alternative School and Title 1 Coordinator. For many of these students Barbara was one of the few supportive adults in their lives. Barbara was often considered a tough and no nonsense person but for these students she would often be the person willing to give them another chance to be successful. Barbara loved her home in Sherwood above all else except maybe her son. This was the place where she could escape from the difficulties of the world. She loved and excelled at gardening taking much of the knowledge from her mother, Lilly, who was also an excellent gardener. Another love of hers was Dobermans. She regularly had multiple Dobermans at her property and would take rescue dogs when no one else would. Barbara also enjoyed watching sports including attending virtually all of her son’s sporting events no matter how frequent or far away. She would have been a fixture at her grandchildren’s events as well had her health not been cut short. Her favorite professional sport to watch was basketball and was a die-hard Portland Trailblazers fan. Barbara’s quality of life was greatly reduced after a diagnosis of brain and lung cancer in March of 1999. Doctors gave Barbara only days to live at the time. Barbara’s response to this prognosis was “Nobody is going to tell me I won’t see my grandson’s first birthday!”. She saw that birthday and many more along with those of her granddaughter’s. This deep stubborn trait was often both a source of admiration and exasperation to those who knew her. Barbara is survived by her son David, her daughter-in-law Molly and by her grandchildren Cooper and Chloe. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation to the Franklin Alumni Association Buy a Brick campaign. Barbara would want to retain the brick at the reincarnation of a place where she devoted so much of herself. Details can be found at http://www.pps.k12.or.us/schools/franklin/. The funeral service and internment will be at Wilhelm’s Portland Memorial Funeral Home on Friday, April 8th at 11:00am Service Information