Lois (Sanborn) Barbour

Lois (Sanborn) Barbour, of Natick, passed away on Saturday, April 18, 2026 at age 97. She was married for 72 years to Donald, who passed away in 2023.

Born in Needham, Massachusetts, to James K. Sr. and Gladys (Dole) Sanborn, Lois grew up along with her brother James Jr, graduating from Needham High School in 1947 and Westbrook College in 1949. Soon she married and started a family, settling in Somerset, Massachusetts for fifteen years before moving to Natick. In each of her homes, she created and maintained a beautiful garden.

Lois had fond memories of doing the Sunday crossword with her dad and loved word games and puzzles of many types. While at home with her children, she began constructing crossword and variety puzzles and saw her work published in many magazines over a 20-year period.

Summer vacations were meant for camping and travel, first in New England and eastern Canada, then further afield. After her husband’s retirement, they took to their motor home for extended travel throughout the US, reaching all the lower 48 and visiting many National Parks. They mixed in a few trips to Europe as well.

Having learned to play bridge in college, Lois played in a number of clubs over the years, where she found some of her fondest friendships. She developed a passion for duplicate bridge and became the director of the Natick Senior Center game, a position she held for 20 years. She was a cherished member of the Needham Duplicate game until her passing and always looked forward to her Tuesday foursome.

Lois instilled in her children an appreciation of education and a love of reading and word games. She rarely missed an episode of Jeopardy and had a 300+ day Wordle streak at age 97. She is survived by her four children, Donna Barbour-Talley and her husband James Talley of Minneapolis; Carol Barbour and her husband Jann Glider of Wynnewood, PA; Joyce Albert and her husband Melvin of Natick; and Thomas Barbour of Wilmington, NC; five grandchildren and two greats, Marcia Gerring, her husband Gabriel, and their two children, Natalie and Jack, of Minneapolis; Edward Talley of Brooklyn; Benjamin Glider and his wife Samantha Menza of Piscataway, NJ; Joshua Glider and his wife Sara of Cherry Hill, NJ; and Julia Albert and her fiancé Liam Wrean of NYC.

Services Will be private.

For guest book please visit www.everettfuneral.com

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