her studies

     By 1953, the family had moved from Whittier to pastor the FM church in Pasadena.  Barbara began elementary school in nearby Altadena and continued there before the family moved several years later to another pastorate in Chino, CA. where she attended Chino Junior and Senior High schools.  It was while she was a sophomore that the choir teacher, Mrs. Richartz, noticed Barbara's natural talent and encouraged her parents to enroll her in voice lessons.  When further ability emerged, she was selected for leading roles in school musicals and ensemble performances. 

          In 1964, her father accepted a larger pastorate in La Mesa, a community just a few miles east of San Diego.  This meant completing her senior year in 1965 at Grossmont High School where the alumni included NASA's Bill Anders who was among the first astronauts to fly to the moon during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, and best known for his iconic photograph "Earthrise". 

   With a university degree as her goal, Barbara first attended Grossmont College where she received the Highest Achievement Award in Vocal Music.  She was also awarded a scholarship to attend San Diego State University, but chose instead to enroll at Cal-Western University in nearby Point Loma.  There she was accepted into the CWU School of Performing Arts where she studied  acting, ballet, dance, voice, and musical performance.  Financing her education was a challenge since her father earned only a small salary as a pastor, but her talent in music earned her the SD Music Teachers Association Scholarship three years in a row.  She also taught skating on weekends and in the summers which enabled her to pay off her student loan. 

          In 1968, Barbara transferred to the University of California's new campus at Irvine (UCI) where she soon became their first graduate with a BA degree in Music who would apply her learning toward educating youth.  Barbara continued with graduate studies and was close to completing a Masters degree in music education when she was awarded a Lifetime Teaching Certificate and a position as Choral Director in the Anaheim Union High School District.   

    Besides her academic achievements, she became proficient at piano while also learning to play the cello, flute, accordian, and church organ. Her finest instrument, however, was her voice.  To fine tune it,  Barbara felt she needed additional professional instruction and among several voice teachers who tutored her was a nationally known vocal clinician by the name of Joseph Klein.  Through his Glendale, CA. studio, Klein trained hundreds of aspiring singers as well as world class tenors and Hollywood performers including Marilyn Horne and Lawrence Welk's "Champagne Lady", Norma Zimmer. He was also the author of a new textbook entitled "Singing Technique" which focused on a revolutionary method he developed to increase the singer's vocal range by up to two octaves, a skill Barbara soon grasped and eventually began teaching to her own students .