Obituary of Barbara Lamb

Barbara Imhofe Lamb was born February 2, 1923 in Rome, NY, the daughter of Robert Imhofe and Mabel Smith Imhofe. She grew up in the Village of Canastota, NY. She attended Smith College in Northampton MA, graduating in 1944 with a degree in Botany, and spent the next 6 months working with botanist Dr. Albert Blakeslee there. She moved to Geneva NY to join the NYS Agricultural Experiment Station staff working as a lab assistant with Dr. John Einset in the Pomology Department, where she met her future husband, Dr. Robert Lamb, in 1948. They were married on Dec 17, 1949 and had 3 children; David, Elizabeth and William. After the kids were in school, Barbara managed the greenhouse at Spencer Florist for many years. She volunteered with a much enjoyed and often mischievous group of friends at the Community Lunch Program. She did genealogy work on her own family, and when she ran out of things to find, volunteered with the Geneva Historical Society and the Latter Day Saints genealogy program in Romulus to answer others' questions. She was the Historian for the Town of Geneva until her death. She was active in the Presbyterian Church in Geneva and a firm supporter of the Geneva Library. She was a member of the Fortnightly Book Club and PEO. Barbara was a keen observer of the natural world - interested in many things - and involved her children and grandchildren in her passions. She was a dedicated botanist and enjoyed finding and identifying plant species. She was a long-time member of the Paleontological Research Institute and was particularly fond of searching for trilobites. She had a good eye for an arrowhead and other artifacts in the fields around Geneva. She loved to ski and sail. Barbara died peacefully on October 5, 2024, surrounded by her family. They wish to thank her caregivers, Shirley Larson, Lisa Kneut, Denise Mills and the other staff from Comfort Keepers and the Rochester Regional Home Health Nurses for allowing her to stay in her home, with her beloved old lady cat Isabella, until the end. She was pre-deceased by her husband Robert, son David, and siblings Jean Pietras-Burdick, Bill Smith, and Beverly Beckley. She is survived by children Elizabeth and William (Lauren) and daughter-in-law Michele: grandchildren Christopher, Robert and Alison; siblings Ann Olney and Ron Smith; and nieces, nephews and many wonderful friends. A celebration of a life well and long-lived will be held at the Presbyterian Church in Geneva on November 2, 2024 at 1:00. Donations in her honor may be made to the Community Lunch Program (https://www.catholiccharitiesfl.org/services/lunch-program/), the Geneva Public Library (https://gplny.org/how-to-donate/, Historic Geneva (https://historicgeneva.org/support/make-a-donation/) or The Friends of Parrott Hall (https://parrott-hall.org/).