Barrington loses one of its most dedicated volunteers

Marion Hubbard ~ 1928-2011

Marion Hubbard was one of those volunteers any organization would have loved to have.

“She was a progressive person,” says Joyce Palmquist, executive director of the Barrington Area Council on Aging. “She was not one to sit around. She had to be doing things.”

Mrs. Hubbard passed away peacefully on June 27. The longtime Barrington resident, was 82.

Nearly every organization in the Barrington area bears her handprint, from the Barrington Park District, on which she served as a commissioner during the 1980s, to the Barrington Area Council on Aging, the League of Women Voters, the Barrington Area Council on Governments and St. Paul United Church of Christ.

“She chaired our voters' registration committee,” said Lorraine Briggs of the League of Women Voters, who added that Mrs. Hubbard had been a continuous member from 1966 until the group disbanded last year.

“We were an activist organization and it took people willing to work to be involved. Marion was one of those, and for many years.”

Her volunteer efforts stretched even further, to Meals on Wheels, the FISH food pantry in Carpentersville, and Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital, to name a few.

Many area seniors remember Hubbard from the exercise classes she taught to adults with arthritis, trying to increase their range of motion. Yet her legacy with the Barrington Area Council on Aging goes beyond that.

Mrs. Hubbard was a member of the agency's founding board in 1985, representing the Barrington Park District, when BACOA incorporated to offer programs and services for local seniors and their caregivers.

She made an even more significant impact in the mid-1990s. She and other members of the League of Women Voters were part of a community-based effort to re-evaluate services offered for seniors.

During the process they identified key areas needing attention: housing; transportation; health care; social and recreational outlets; and support services.

“Marion was a part of that project that helped set the direction for the future of BACOA,” Palmquist said. “She saw a gap in the needs that were being met and helped us formulate what future needs might be.”

The group determined that the agency needed to establish community partnerships and work collaboratively.

“We've come so far,” Palmquist said, “and Marion and that group from the League of Women Voters were a big part of that. They gave us a focus.”

BACOA now serves more than 1,500 seniors from Barrington, North Barrington, South Barrington, Lake Barrington, Barrington Hills, Deer Park and Tower Lakes. Last year, it also took calls for information from more than 900 caregivers.

Mrs. Hubbard was preceded in death by her husband, Herbert. She is survived by her children, Barb (Michael) Condill, Bob (Linda) Hubbard, Steve (Barb) Hubbard and Carol (Stan Iglehart) Kohout as well as 10 grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

A celebration of her life will be celebrated at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 9, at Salem United Methodist Church, 115 W. Lincoln Ave. in Barrington.