Barbara Sarmento

On Tuesday October 8th, Barbara Sarmento passed comfortably at home surrounded by her loving family. She graduated from Highline High School in Seattle Washington in 1956 before enrolling at Colorado College. Like her mother, Betty (Rummens), she was a member of Tau Delta Eta, and also undertook some schooling at the University of Washington. In 1959, on Catalina Island off the coast of California, she met and married her former husband Parlane J. Reid. They had two sons before moving to Connecticut in 1970. In the 80’s, Barbara returned to school and graduated with a B.S. from Charter Oak College in 1990. She then proudly worked for the Connecticut Department of Children and Families until her retirement in 2000.

She is the daughter of Gilbert Hendrey and Beatrice Rummens. She is survived by her brothers William, George and his wife Elizabeth (Field), and James and his wife Nancy (Zych). She is also survived by her son Parlane Reid and his wife Diane (Salzberger) and their two children Jude and Carolyn, James Reid and his wife Patricia (Burns) and their four children Kaitlyn and her husband Andrew, Kelcie and her husband Johnny and their daughter Jamie, Patrick, Melissa and her husband Conor. 

Barbara was above all empathetic. She had a great appreciation for life, art, music, and was dedicated to the Peace Movement. She loved nature and cherished her garden. She worked hard to turn her love of nature and humanity into helping others. As a social worker, she fought to keep children home with their families. She always chose peace. She was a lifelong protester well before her formation of the “Raging Granny’s.” They would stand along with her peace movement friends, and with members of the Quaker and Unitarian church, who would stand vigil with signs as beacons of peace in places of increased violence. Each week for years, she could be found at the peace vigils at the Hartford federal courthouse and in West Hartford Center. She detested the mechanisms of war and any government official who remained silent. In the late 2000s, she waited for three hours on an overpass to give the middle finger to a government official as he passed by in a motorcade. She was generous and compassionate to the homeless and was part of the Occupy Movement that swept the country in 2011, sleeping in downtown Hartford.

Her appreciation of art was expressed in her photographs of family, friends, and the beauty of the world, an inherited trait from her mother Betty. She would capture the ice on the trees and flowers after an ice storm, the way light reflected through a window onto her walls and cat, strangers in the city and of course family and friends. She would weave flowers into crowns, and would set them on your head if you stood still too long or did not protest too much. She loved her sons and their families, came to every event and made the finest pies and was especially known for her Crème caramel (flan), lemon bars, and baklava if you were lucky enough to get a piece. She also loved her extended family and friends, especially her second husband Vilmar (married 1995-2002), his second wife Anna, and their son Leo, who were very dear to her heart.

A celebration of life service will be held at the Unitarian Meeting House of Hartford, located at 50 Bloomfield Ave, Hartford, Ct 06105 on Wednesday 10/16 at 5:00pm. Donations can be made to Amnesty International.