By Ariane Lange

Friends, colleagues and students remembered physical education teacher Barbara Welsh at a memorial service in the Great Hall on the middle school campus Jan. 4.

Welsh, who died in her sleep Dec. 7, taught at the school for 39 years.

The program called the event “a celebration to honor the life of Barbara Jean Welsh,” an appropriate sentiment given that Welsh wanted her death to be followed by a party.

There were speeches, a slideshow and a reception on the terrace with food and drinks. Guests signed a memory book and looked pictures of Welsh mounted on posters around the terrace.

President Thomas C. Hudnut said that the past 18 years of his life were better for knowing Barbara Welsh. Hudnut spoke of her strict teaching style, her sense of humor and how important her students were to her, a theme common to all the speeches.


Barbara Welsh taught physical education on the Westlake campus for 39 years. Speakers at the memorial service stressed Welsh's sense of humor.

Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts shared stories about Welsh.

“If you are looking for a memorial, look around you,” Huybrechts said. “Long after she is gone, her lessons [will remain] in the minds of her students.”

Carmen Rey, a close friend of 46 years whom Welsh called her sister, talked about Welsh, at times laughing and crying. The two had talked on the phone to each other nearly every night.

“She loved her students,” Rey said. “I heard it every day. I can tell you for sure.”

Emily Wallach ’11 gave a short remembrance of Welsh, relating Welsh’s kindness when Wallach had a knee problem during a PE class.

Barbara Jacobsen, the former assistant head of middle school, described Welsh’s great sense of humor, her selfless friendship and her love for her students. She related a story about how Welsh, a great lover of practical jokes, used to have one of her students stand on the lookout for a tour bus driving past the school and, when the student gave her the signal that it was coming, would chase her students around wielding a whip.

Athletic Director Darlene Bible and Physical Education Department Head Kimberly Hieatt talked about how much fun they had with Welsh. Bible, Hieatt and Welsh were once asked to move their office because their almost constant laughter was disturbing nearby offices.

Hieatt said that tenacity was Welch’s “cheer and her mantra…woe be the girl [on her team] who did not act tenaciously.”

“Don’t be sorry it’s over,” she said. “Be glad it happened.”

The ceremony opened with a prayer by Rabbi Emily Feigenson and closed with a prayer by Father J. Young and an Irish blessing sung by the Madrigals.