Barbara A. Chapple, former director of Roland Park Country School's Lower School whose career in education spanned nearly 50 years, died Aug. 11 from Alzheimer's disease at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium.
She was 83.
"Barbara was just a wonderful person. I knew her for years when I was head of the lower school at Gilman and she was teaching at Roland Park public school, and I knew what an outstanding teacher she was," said Jean Waller Brune, who headed Roland Park Country School from 1992 until retiring in June.
"She loved children, and generations of students have benefited from her. She also was a wonderful mentor to new teachers. She loved them and they loved her," said Ms. Brune, a Roland Park resident. "Barbara had sparkling eyes, a bright spirit and a warm manner."
The daughter of William A. Chapple and Hilda Wise Chapple, Barbara Ann Chapple was born in Baltimore and raised in the 300 block of E. 22nd St.
After graduating in 1951 from Notre Dame Preparatory School, she received a bachelor's degree in 1955 in elementary education from Maryland State Teachers College at Towson, now Towson University.
In 1961, she obtained a master's degree in education from Towson. She also did postgraduate work at Loyola University Maryland.
From 1952 to 1955, Ms. Chapple worked at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, the League for Crippled Children and Adults and clerked in two state offices.
In 1955, she launched her career in city public schools, teaching first, second and third grades.
She joined the faculty of Roland Park Country School in 1976. There, she taught first and second grades until being named head of the lower school in 1978.
"When I became head of school in 1992, Barbara gathered the entire lower school and faculty and they came across Roland Avenue to Gilman carrying balloons to greet me," Ms. Brune recalled. "One student presented me with a bouquet of roses — which is very much part of Roland Park Country School. I'll never forget it."
"Barbara was very involved with each child and each faculty member. I am sure at times she'd get frustrated with us, but she loved us," said Barrie G. Sigler, a former head of the lower school.
"She had marvelous sense of humor," Ms. Sigler said. "She ate lunch with the faculty and never stayed apart from us," she said. "She ran a tight ship with love, but was firm. She was absolutely devoted to the lower school. When I took over, I tried to emulate her."
Ms. Sigler said that no matter the weather, Ms. Chapple was out daily at the school's car pool area overseeing arrival and departures while trying to head off traffic jams.
"She'd be out there both in the morning greeting students and in the afternoon saying goodbye, and she kept the cars moving," she said.
"While she ... did not have children of her own, she was the whole school's mother," Ms. Sigler said. "Barbara was frank and honest and laughed easily."
For years, she was a fixture at the school's annual Holiday Fair, where her boxwood trees were always in demand, said Kathryn Tubman "Kate" Cameron, her goddaughter, who lives in Glyndon.
"She was incredibly creative and artistic, and was a wonderful flower arranger," said Ms. Cameron, who graduated from Roland Park Country School in 1984. "When I was young, she did a lot of sewing, and she made curtains and rugs for my dollhouse."
Ms. Cameron's mother, Kathryn Geraghty "Kit" Tubman, who later wrote for the old Sunday Sun Magazine, said she and Ms. Chapple were childhood friends and graduates of the same class at Notre Dame Prep.
Ms. Chapple retired from Roland Park Country School in 1995.
After retiring, Ms. Chapple became an accomplished calligrapher — each year she put the name of Roland Park's lower school graduates on their diplomas, said Ms. Cameron. "She also did it for a church in Parkton," she said.
In recognition of her service to the school, a group of donors raised money in 1994 to have the lower school's Cherry Tree Courtyard named in her honor. Her portrait also hangs in the school library.
After leaving the school, Ms. Chapple was involved with weekend programs at Goucher College and Notre Dame of Maryland University, and from 1999 to 2002 she was interim head of the Garrison Forest preschool.
From 1986 to 1991, she served as a member of the academic advisory committee at St. James Academy in Monkton, and from 1996 to 1999 was a member of its board of trustees.
Ms. Chapple was also a reading and language arts tutor for students from preschool to the seventh grade.
A former longtime resident of the Gaywood neighborhood of Baltimore County, Ms. Chapple had been an active member of the Gaywood Community Association. She served on its board and had been a past president, vice president and secretary.
"She was called the 'Mayor of Gaywood,'" Ms. Cameron said.
Ms. Chapple was an avid reader and a particular fan of Tom Clancy novels.
"She knew Tom Clancy's dad real well because he was her mailman on Gaywood Road," her goddaughter said.
Ms. Chapple was a communicant of the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, where a Mass of Christian burial was offered Friday in the cathedral's Lady Chapel.
In addition to Ms. Cameron, she is survived by several cousins.