Barbara Leigh Montgomery

Barbara Leigh Sharps Montgomery 63, passed away January 8th, 2024, at Rock Creek Care Center in Auburn, California. She was born in Boulder, Colorado on April 11th, 1960, the second of three children born to Ralph Milton Sharps and Margaret Mary Worsley, who met and married in Boulder and had begun a life together on Sugarloaf Mountain. Barbara Leigh thoroughly enjoyed her early years, growing up in the majestic Colorado Rocky Mountains! When she was 16, her family moved to Southern Oregon, and in 1978 she graduated with honors from Grants Pass High School. Her senior class celebrated with a whirlwind trip to Disneyland and a short time later, she flew to Hawaii with friends. These first of many trips, would spark Barbara Leigh’s life long love for travel. Barbara Leigh attended Rogue Community College in Grants Pass, Oregon and Front Range Community College in Boulder County, Colorado, where she received her AA degree. Having been bitten by the travel bug, she then made it her intention to explore some of the world. Her first trip across the pond was soon realized and later, she returned for a time as an au pair for a family in France. She loved the French people, their language and their way of life and would ultimately work many years in California for a satellite paper company, whose base was in France, affording her opportunities to travel to Paris on business. Over the years Barbara Leigh would continue traveling solo, with family or with friends, to countless locations in Canada, Mexico, the Hawaiian Islands, the United States and throughout Europe. She was adventurous and independent and would studiously work and save, always planning her next visit to some far away place. Eventually settling in California, Barbara Leigh purchased her first home and soon thereafter met William Montgomery. Impressed by his deep concern for the well being of animals, his overall gentle nature and quirky sense of humor, she quickly discovered they were kindred spirits. They were soon married on the coast in Mendocino at sunset on September 21st, 1996. She and her husband Will shared many years together working, traveling, raising fur kid’s and enjoying their home life. They were both voracious reader’s and were content spending free time side by side, snuggled up with books and a bowl of popcorn. Upon retirement and in her last years, Barbara Leigh lived in Vista and Oceanside, California. This area was special to her and she often described it as paradisiac. There she met dear new friends, enjoyed the area’s beauty and spent many an evening walking on the beach, capturing spectacular sunsets. In addition to her parents, Barbara Leigh was preceded in death by her husband William Montgomery. She is survived by her brother, David Sharps of Grants Pass, Oregon; sister, Carol Sharps of Smartsville, California; niece, Ariel McCormack and her husband Christopher McCormack of Smartsville, California; nephew, Tyler Shaulis and his companion Angela Daugherty of Grass Valley, California. Barbara Leigh is also survived by a number of great nieces and nephews and several dear friends. Barbara Leigh was keenly interested in people. She carried herself with grace and dignity and was very well liked, often quick to make other’s laugh. She was a good person, who loved God and his purpose with all of her heart. Her family dearly loved her and she we will be missed every single day. May she Rest In Peace. A private memorial service will be held later in the year. Barbara Leigh will be laid to rest with her husband, at the Eagle Point National Cemetery, in Eagle point, Oregon.

Barbara Leigh Montgomery

April 11, 1960 - January 8, 2024