Barbara Christina Buchan
Barbara Buchan died peacefully on November 10, 2024 in her 91st year.
Buchan — who was born in Cambridge England shortly after the forced emigration of her family from Germany prior to World War II due to their Jewish heritage — moved to the United States with her husband and young family of three in the mid-1960s, spending the first year in Concord and settling in Lincoln. In 2014, at age 80, she decided to swap out snow for sun and transition into The Terraces of Los Gatos community near her two California-based children and their families.
Barbara’s nature was to support causes that were meaningful to her and advocate for underserved communities, particularly children and families. To support this endeavor, she educated herself, earning a bachelor’s degree in medical/social work at the University of Edinburgh and a master’s and doctoral degree in early childhood education at Tufts University and Nova University, respectively.
She began her career as an almoner in London in the early 1960s (watch “Call the Midwife” for an idea of her work). She continued to support children and families throughout her career. In each community in which she lived, she was driven to originate educational and care resources. In Woodford, England, she started a cooperative nursery school with her good friend Dorothy Runnicles. Upon transitioning to Lincoln, she collaborated with Sally Mlavsky and other community parents to repurpose an old barn on Winter Street and establish the Barn Cooperative Nursery School (since moved to Concord).
Barbara continued to develop educational resources and curricula for elementary schools through the Educational Development Center. She then served as director of the Elm Park Early Education Center, located in Worcester, where amongst her many innovative accomplishments was the creation of a rooftop playground. She closed her career by supporting mothers recovering from addiction at The Institute for Health Recovery. While there she introduced an economical heating pad solution “Warm Socks” to ease the aches and pains of program participants. They were an imme
Barbara embraced many of the things that Lincoln and its environment offered — hosting horses, chickens, ducks, rabbits, and cats on her property, selling arts and crafts at the Old Town Hall Exchange, buying equipment at ski and skate sales, attending lectures at Bemis Hall and school productions at the Brooks School auditorium, ice skating by moonlight on Macone’s Pond and Pierce Pond, square dancing in the Smith School gym and Codman barn, swimming at the Codman pool and across Walden Pond into her 70s, and snowshoeing and tracking animals in the local woods.
Upon retirement in 2000, Barbara immersed herself in supporting environmental causes in Lincoln, including the Green Committee’s mission to lower energy consumption in homes and town, and the Lincoln Tick Task Force (read more here). She continued to support communities in need, including the Arghand Trust, for which she served as a board member supporting their founder Sarah Chayes. She also found immense satisfaction and joy participating in memoir-writing groups, first joining one in Lincoln and then, finding none in her new California community, starting one.
Barbara died peacefully on November 10, 2024 with a warm sock in her hand (see the description from one of her memoirs below). She is survived by her children Nick, Lindy and Lucy; their spouses Paola, Bob, and Steve; and five grandchildren (Cailin, Finian, Jason, Nicole and Isabella). Barbara was much loved by many, and will be greatly missed.
Using odd socks as covers for heating pads
By Barbara Buchan
The back story: Years ago, I worked with women in recovery from substance abuse who had lots of aches and pains but little money. It occurred to me that we needed to offer an alternative to the use of Motrin or other medications prescribed by their doctors. The women in our group happened to mention that there were lots of odd socks lying around at the laundromat where they washed their clothes.
Somewhere else, I had read about making warming pads using seeds as a filler. So how about filling odd socks (must contain at least 80% cotton) with flaxseed, knotting the tops, and then putting them in the microwave for 1–2 minutes before applying them to sore spots? As an alternative to using the microwave in class, I brought in a Crock-Pot along with a sack of flaxseed and a scoop, and the residents brought in assorted cotton socks. They were a big hit with the residents at work. From that day on, the Crock-Pot filled with sock pads was available at every meeting. Subsequently, flaxseed pads have become a household necessity in my family.
Recipe
Socks: Must be at least 80% cotton (to ensure fibers don’t melt in the microwave or burn).
Flaxseed or grains of rice: Quantity needed will vary with the size/number of socks to fill. Do not overfill to avoid bulkiness and/or uneven heat. You may wish to experiment. (Supposedly, the oil in flaxseed retains heat longer than non-oily grains. However, rice grains seem to work very well.)
Directions:
- (optional) Tie-dye socks.
- Fill the sock with flaxseed or rice.
- Tie a knot or stitch to close the end of the grain-filled sock.
- Microwave for 1–2 minutes.
