Barbara (Bobbie) Jordan, a member of Durham Friends Meeting, Durham, Maine, died January 16, 2011,
\nafter a two-year journey with ovarian cancer. Prior to transferring her membership to Durham Meeting
\nin 1996, she was a member of Mt.Toby Meeting in Leverett, Massachusetts, since about 1987. Bobbie was
\nborn in Bakersfield, California, on September 28, 1942, but grew up in Denver, Colorado, the eldest
\ndaughter of Lorne and Helen Jordan. Family life in the Jordan household consisted of regular camping
\ntrips to fish the mountain streams of the Colorado and its neighboring states. Bobbie visited and
\nknew all of the best fly-fishing locations, thanks to her father\u2019s avid interest in this sport. Her young life was
\nfilled with outdoor activity, from helping her grandfather on his farm to taking the ski train into the Rockies for
\nlessons and eventual work on the Ski Patrol. She worked on a dude ranch in her early years, cooking for the
\ncowboys, and loved entertaining her family with many stories of the cowboys\u2019 pranks. Sports were an early
\ninterest for Bobbie, and she was drawn to a career in Health and Physical Education, graduating from Colorado
\nState University at Fort Collins in 1964. Her first year of teaching was in rural Wyoming and included teaching
\nclasses at the Wind River Indian Reservation.
\nThroughout her life, Bobbie seemed to know her path forward, making decisions and taking on tasks and
\nresponsibilities that served to steadily expand her experiences, skills and interest in education. Early in her
\nteaching career she accepted a summer job as the waterfront director at a Camp Tappawingo, a girl\u2019s camp in
\nHarrison, Maine. While in Maine, she applied to a Master\u2019s Program at University of Maine at Orono, where
\nshe both studied and taught, and from which she graduated in 1967. Upon graduation she continued teaching at
\nthe college level, working at the State University of New York in Albany teaching and coaching, then moved to
\nWellesley College from 1969-1977. At Wellesley she coached the college crew team, staying one lesson ahead
\nof the team by reading the manual as the season progressed. She had never taught the sport previously, but
\nBobbie was always game for a challenge, and failure was never an option. Needless to say, the crew team was a
\nsuccess.
\nDuring her years at Wellesley College, Bobbie continued to work summers directing activities at a girl\u2019s
\ncamp in Hanover Mass., where she made many life-long friends. With no tenure track at Wellesley, Bobbie
\nfound employment directing an alternative high school in Plymouth, Mass., for two years. The work was
\nchallenging, with many troubled students, but once again Bobbie met the challenge head on. Once again,
\nfailure was not an option, and she created many real-life situations to assist the students with developing skills
\nthey could relate to. It was with some relief, however, that she returned to more traditional education at
\nBrookline High School, serving as Curriculum Coordinator and Teacher of Health and Physical Education from
\n1977 to 1982.
\nBobbie\u2019s love of education kept her advancing in her career, enrolling in advanced studies at University of
\nMassachusetts in Amherst in 1982, and serving as principal for the Leverett Elementary School from 1985 to
\n1990. Her continuing commitment to the education of children led her to a job in Maine, as principal of
\nWilliams-Cone School in Topsham where she worked from 1990 to 2001, and later to Augusta where she
\nworked until her retirement in 2008 as the Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the Augusta Public
\nSchools. During this time, Bobbie also enrolled and graduated in 2001 from Nova Southeastern University,
\nFort Lauderdale, Fla., with a Doctorate in Education.
\nBobbie was a leader and an educator in all facets of her life. She served in leadership positions in many
\nprofessional organizations, and worked to support peer review among teachers and mentorship programs for
\nteachers and principals. Bobbie traveled to Eastern Europe, Sweden and Japan to learn and observe teaching
\nmethods of other cultures. Rather than truly retire, Bobbie took on the task of developing an after-school
\nprogram for at-risk children in the Augusta area, through the Boys and Girls Club. She traveled to Kenya to
\nvisit and help with a summer camp for AIDS orphans run by the Quaker group Friends of Kakamega. Indeed,
\neven through the last months of her life Bobbie eagerly took on the supervision of six student teachers, fulfilling
\none of her long-time career goals.
\nAlong with a growing career, Bobbie also deeply valued her friends and family. Over the years of job
\nchanges and professional growth, Bobbie developed a wide family of friends, and regularly stayed in touch with
\nthem. Trusted colleagues often became life-long friends. In 1982 Bobbie met her life-partner, Sarah Sprogell,
\nand together they raised Sarah\u2019s two sons. Their life together was filled with trips to Colorado, camping and
\ncanoeing, a string of family pets, and the joy of seeing both boys grow into fine young men with beautiful
\nfamilies of their own.
\nDurham Friends Meeting was Bobbie\u2019s spiritual home, and a place where her leadership and strong work
\nethic also found tasks to accomplish. She served on Ministry and Council for six years, and also on Finance
\nCommittee, serving as clerk for both committees. She also served as Meeting Treasurer at a time of transition
\nfor the Meeting. Bobbie was often sought out to serve on Pastoral Support Committees, Pastoral Search
\nCommittees, and Pastoral Evaluation Committees. She served on the Christian Education Committee and
\ntaught Sunday School classes, where she shared with Durham youth her gifts for relating to and understanding
\nyoung people; Bobbie served Durham Meeting\u2019s young friends well. While Bobbie\u2019s natural inclination to be
\nof use to the Meeting kept her actively involved and admired for her leadership, she felt at her core that the
\nMeeting was most importantly a place of refuge from the busy outside world, and a place of worship that
\nresonated deeply within her.
\nBeyond pursuing her career in education and finding her spiritual home with Quakers, Bobbie also sang in a
\nlocal women\u2019s chorus, Women in Harmony, for more than 10 years. True to her participation in any group,
\nBobbie was involved in the board of directors, serving as chairperson, as well as on the production of
\ncommittee, search committee, and as administrative assistant to the director. As with all her endeavors, she
\nmade important and lasting friendships through her involvement with this singing group.
\nThe last two years of Bobbie\u2019s life were years of spiritual deepening and strengthening, as she developed
\nher own style of living with cancer. As with so many of her personal and professional challenges over the
\nyears, giving up was never an option. There were still things to do, trips to take and people to see. There was
\nstill life to live and work to be done. She continued to face life and its challenges head on, maintaining her
\ngrace and courage until her last days. Many of the nurses and aides at the Gosnell House, where Bobbie spent
\nthe last week of her life, marveled at her spiritual equanimity and lack of agitation as she drew closer to death.
\nThe strength of Bobbie\u2019s spirit was evident at her memorial service, when over 200 people gathered to profess
\ntheir love and admiration for a woman who touched them deeply and from whom they had learned much. Her
\ngenerosity of spirit was clearly evident in the many testimonials heard on that day.
\nOur dear Bobbie is survived by Sarah Sprogell, her loving partner of 29 years, their son, Agostino Petrillo,
\nand his wife, Allegra, and daughters Ariel and Thalia of Northampton Mass., as well as his two daughters
\nChelsea and Emily Craine of Blacksburg Va., their son, Dominic Petrillo, and his son, Lincoln, of Freeport,
\nMaine, her sister Pamela (Jordan) Costa, of Littleton Colo., her niece Angela (Costa) Hawes and her husband
\nJason of Littleton, Colo., and her nephew Frank Costa and his wife Sarah of Pensacola Fla. Bobbie is
\npredeceased by her father Lorne Jordan. Her mother, Helen Irene (Hall) Jordan, passed away six months
\nfollowing Bobbie\u2019s death, on July 17, 2011, at the age of 100.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Barbara (Bobbie) Jordan, a member of Durham Friends Meeting, Durham, Maine, died January 16, 2011, after a two-year journey with ovarian cancer. Prior to transferring her membership to Durham Meeting in 1996, she was a member of Mt.Toby Meeting in … Continue reading