Barbara Ann Fox, community activist and woman of many talents
She was a quilter, seamstress, artist and patron of the arts.
WHEN Barbara Ann Fox set up housekeeping in Center City in the early '60s, she couldn't boil water.
A slight exaggeration, but she was definitely culinarily challenged. Typical of Barbara's can-do nature, which she carried throughout her busy life, she became such an expert at cooking that she was a legend among friends and family - and much in demand.
People wanted her to cater their parties. Her Christmas cookies were almost too creative to eat.
Barbara Fox - a great cook, a skilled seamstress who made clothes for herself and others, an avid quilter, a painter whose watercolors were cherished by family and friends, and a community activist - died Oct. 13 of cardiac arrest. She was 72 and lived in Center City.
Barbara was the lead plaintiff in a suit in the '80s to force the federal government to provide funds for public housing in Washington Square West and helped save the Reading Terminal Market from being razed.
As a patron of the arts, she at one time boarded singers and ballerinas for the Opera Company of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Ballet, inspiring friendships that lasted a lifetime.
"She had a genuine brightness and energy," her family said. "She was inquisitive and fiercely independent and had a passionate commitment to justice. She left her mark on her community and friends."
Barbara was born on the grounds of the National Ammonia Co. on Dark Run Lane in Wissinoming. Her parents were Anna Mae and John Peltz.
Barbara graduated from Frankford High School in 1958. She later took courses at Temple University.
She worked for the old Bell Telephone Co. until her children were born. She later worked as a cardio technician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and St. Christopher's Hospital for Children.
Barbara couldn't let a civic problem go by without her help. In the '80s, she and other activists saw the need for public housing in Washington Square West. Not everybody in the neighborhood saw the same need, and the efforts were controversial.
The lawsuit, which bore her name, forced the government to provide $11 million in subsidized housing.
"She said she made lifelong enemies," said her son Ned Fox. "But she had passion and conviction."
When the Reading Co. was trying to find ways to get rid of the Reading Terminal Market in the '80s, Barbara joined a friend who had a shop in the market to rally support for it. The railroad company changed course and decided to improve the market. It later was taken over by the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority.
Barbara married a high-school friend, William Fox, in the early '60s. The marriage ended in divorce.
Besides her son, she is survived by another son, Phil Fox; her mother, Anna Mae Peltz; a sister, Eileen Clark, and two brothers, Jack and Ron Peltz.
Services: Memorial service 10 a.m. today at Christ Church, 2nd Street above Market. Donations may be made to the Fleisher Art Memorial, 719 Catharine St., Philadelphia 19147.