Barbara Babcock Hawes

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Barbara Babcock Hawes, entrepreneur, wife, mother, 86, of Fort Collins, Colo. died May 20, 2026.

Barbara was born June 3, 1939, in Meadville, Pa. She remembered growing up in a loving home, and going fishing with her parents and brother on nearby streams, Conneaut Lake, and in Canada. She raised chickens, and enjoyed the huge winter snows coming off of Lake Erie, occasionally being able to ice skate in her flooded backyard.

She was an accomplished pianist, singer, and top student in high school. One of her favorite memories was of being selected in 1956 to go on a trip to Europe her senior year. Traveling three weeks by ship across the Atlantic Ocean was a vivid adventurous memory, and she never forgot the thrill of visiting England and France as a 17-year-old. She would later go on to study French cuisine and became a wonderful cook.

In 1960, Barbara graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. with degrees in education and home economics. She joined the Alpha Chi Omega (ΑΧΩ) sorority, the national women’s fraternity founded at DePauw University in 1885. She remained active with ΑΧΩ for decades at Colorado State University, mentoring dozens of young women students into adulthood. While at DePauw, she frequently made the one-hour drive to visit her grandparents in Bloomington, Ind. on weekends.

Upon graduation, Barbara moved to New York City and took a job as a bookkeeper with a furniture importation and distribution company. She had fond memories of being a young woman in the city. Her drink of choice was a Manhattan. In 1962, Barbara met her future husband David Hawes. They were married in 1964 in the First Church of Hanover, which was founded in 1718 in New Jersey, where David was from. The two moved to Horseheads, N.Y., then to Chicago for work, before settling in Fort Collins, Colo.

Barbara and David bought their first home on Grant Street in Fort Collins and had two sons. They started a business together, which was first known as Hawes Construction and later became High County Pools, building mostly commercial swimming pools throughout the West and even one in Nome, Alaska. They sold the successful business in 1999 and retired.

Barbara was a deeply loving wife and mother, and made a point to visit family throughout the country during her travels. She hosted most every holiday and was an accomplished cook. She made many of her sons’ clothes until they went to junior high school. She made sure that her sons grew up with proper manners, respect for women, and a passion for reading.

A favorite memory was a trip she took with her parents by train in the 1990s to visit the Colorado locales of her ancestors. Her great great-grandparents lived and owned a general store in the mining camp of Leadville in the 1800s, and her father was born in Palisade in 1910. She was proud to be able to trace her Colorado lineage back five generations.

In 1979, Barbara and David began the tradition of visiting Maine every summer with their family at the lake cottage David’s grandparents purchased in 1949. She didn’t miss a single summer there until the summer of 2022 when she began to suffer the effects of dementia.

Barbara was preceded in death by her grandparents Elma Erwin and Harry (John) Stevenson, and grandparents Hazel Naething and Harry J. Babcock. She was also preceded in death by her parents Martha Stevenson and Norman Naething Babcock; husband David Holbrook Hawes; and son, Steven Holbrook Hawes.

Barbara is survived by her brother and sister-in-law Norman (Sandy) and Sara Babcock of Meadville, nieces Lori and Holly, and nephew Benjamin Babcock and his son Hugh; son and daughter-in-law Rem and Tina Hawes and their daughters Morgan Hawes of Phoenix, Ariz. and Xan Hawes of Fort Collins. Colo.; and daughter-in-law Shawna Hawes and her daughters Nora and Maile Hawes of Fort Collins, Colo.

The family will hold a private celebration of life in Barbara’s honor. Friends may send condolences to the family in care of Barbara Hawes at Goes Funeral Care, 3665 Canal Drive, Suite E, Fort Collins, CO 80524, or at http://www.goesfuneralcare.com.

Memorial contributions can be made in

Barbara’s name to:

Poudre High School Athletic Department

in Fort Collins where her son Steve coached basketball for 20 years