Barbara Wulf Browne
In the early morning hours of May 7, 2020, Barbara Wulf Browne’s life gently slipped away. She spent her final days in her beloved home of 48 years, in Tiburon, California, overlooking the San Francisco Bay.
Barbara’s life journey began in Chanute, Kansas, January 14, 1940. She was the daughter of Robert and Hazel Wulf of Humboldt, Kansas.
Barbara enjoyed a rich, supportive, and deeply loving family atmosphere in her childhood years, along with her siblings: Sylvia Borghardt (Topeka, Kansas), Robert Wulf (Humboldt, Kansas), Richard Wulf (Richmond, Virginia) and the late Ronald Wulf (Humboldt, Kansas).
Her years as a student were equally rewarding. She was active in many activities in Humboldt High School, where she graduated in 1958. Following high school graduation, Barbara enrolled at Kansas State University, where she pledged the Tri Delta sorority and received her BA in Home Economics, in 1963. Upon graduation, Barbara was recruited and hired as a flight attendant by American Airlines, where she flew for the next nine years.
During an evening in 1966 in San Francisco, Barbara was introduced by a close friend to her future husband, a Pan Am pilot named Jim Browne. Surrounded by family and friends they were married in Sausalito, California, September 14, 1968.
While living in a small apartment in Tiburon, California, the newlyweds began planning their family home. In 1971, they hired an architect, with whom Barbara worked closely, to design their home on a newly purchased lot overlooking the San Francisco Bay.
In 1972, Barbara quit flying to become a full-time mother and engaged homemaker. Hunter, her first son, was born in 1974, and followed by twin sons Travis and Trevor, in 1980. They spent memorable family times at their second home near Lake Tahoe. Barbara’s devotion and love for her sons was total, and she took great joy in the recent births of her grandchildren, Charlotte and Logan.
Second only to her family, Barbara embraced a passion for international travel, which she engaged in on a regular basis for over 50 years. Whether it be strolling the leafy avenues of Paris, viewing the impressive wild animals in the Serengeti, taking in the sunsets on the Adriatic or the soft landscapes of Spain’s Andalucía, Barbara preferred the flexibility and freedom of planning her own itineraries. She approached her travel with care, experience, and enthusiasm. Even her travels closer to home were full of adventure: skiing at Sun Valley, Idaho, scuba diving in the Bahamas, and regularly scoring last-minute show tickets during annual trips to Manhattan.
Barbara firmly believed that some of life’s most rewarding and memorable moments often happen at the outer limits of one’s comfort zone.
Truly, a life well lived.
She is survived and deeply missed by her husband of 52 years and three sons.
Donations in her name may be sent to the Make-A-Wish foundation of the Greater San Francisco Bay Area or the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank.