Ellsworth and St. Helena Island, S.C.
Barbara Falting Kinsman passed away on Oct. 10, 2022, at her daughter’s home in Ellsworth under the care of her family and Hospice. Babs, as she was known, was born in Jersey City, N.J., on Aug. 29, 1934. She was the daughter of George and Mildred Falting and grew up in Tenafly.
Babs graduated from Colby College in Waterville in 1956. While at Colby, she met her future husband, Warren Kinsman, from Augusta. Babs taught school in Augusta for two years. She and Warren were married on June 8,1957, at the Colby College Chapel. They next settled in Brewer.
After Warren’s short assignment in Massachusetts, Babs and Warren moved to Hampton Falls, N.H., with their daughter Terri and son David where Babs went to graduate school at UNH and got her master’s degree and Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies. She was a guidance counselor for most of her career at Winnacunnit High School.
In 1999, Babs and Warren sold their New Hampshire home and moved to Dataw, a gated community on an island in South Carolina. They returned to Sunset Park on Green Lake in Ellsworth every summer where Babs had been going since 1941. On many a night they played bridge at the lodge there.
Babs was an avid athlete; she learned to ski in her 30s and enjoyed swimming, tennis and paddling her kayak. She loved sailing, especially cruising the coasts of Maine and New Hampshire or spending hours on her sunfish at Green Lake. She was devoted to her family and loved big gatherings. Babs loved all animals and was never without a cat or a dog or both. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for them. Her warmth, grace, gentle manner and beaming smile will be remembered by all who knew her.
Barbara is survived by her beloved husband of 67 years, Warren; her daughter Terri and son-in-law Kenneth Forrette of Ellsworth; Terri’s children Nicholas and Jillian; her son David and his wife, Myra, of Milo and their son William.
Memorial services will be held next summer. Donations in Barbara’s memory may be made to Beacon Hospice in Bangor or the Maine Affiliate of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America.