Barbara Jean Glassman Wood's Obituary
Barbara Jean (Glassman) Wood
“Babs,” “Gramma Barbie”
5/3/1946 - 11/26/2022
—of Upcountry Maui slipped into her angel wings and headed for the pearly gates on November 26, 2022, at Maui Memorial Medical Center. She was 76. Her two surviving children were by her side.
She was born in Michigan on May 3rd, 1946, then came to Hawaii in the 1970s, landing first on the North Shore of Oahu where her children were born.
Barbara possessed an abundance of talent, fearless enthusiasm, an extreme passion for life and the beauty in people and possibility. A natural-born entrepreneur, she focused her energy on projects meant to inspire magic in others. During the ’80s she created and directed a children’s theater program The Kids of Lahaina on Maui’s West Side. As a publisher and gallery owner during the ‘80s and ‘90s she pioneered Maui's Art and Publishing industry. She was a creative force, promoting the careers of a great many island artists, entrepreneurs and writers as well as publishing her own magazines and books. As a restaurateur, she loved to cook and entertain, she emphasized life and festivity above all.
She loved gathering with people, music, dancing, cooking, playing the piano and guitar, being with family most of all, being in nature at the ocean's shore and among plants and flowers. She found beauty in everything, everyone and every challenge.
Predeceased by her son Billy, her adoptive parents Dayton and Mary Howell and her biological mother Claire Glassman, she is survived by daughter Ocean (Ian) Bassford, son Jonah Zbiciak, and grandchildren Max, Maila, Malia, and Jonah Jr., also pup Zachy Boy.
She will be deeply missed. A true original, she leaves an unfillable void to soar with the angels.
For celebration of life date, address to send garden memorial gift and details email to [email protected]
*** In lieu of flowers the family is requesting a garden keepsake or plant for Barbara's memorial garden.
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