Barbara Jean Frish

Barbara Jean (Freeman) Frish, 83, died Thursday, September 21, 2023, at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. Barbara was born September 28, 1939, in East St. Louis, Illinois.

A role model for professional women, Barbara started her banking career as a stenographer at the Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis in the late 1950s, where she advanced to working as a researcher with the bank’s economists. In the 1970s in Poplar Bluff, Barbara became the first woman loan officer in Southeast Missouri. She subsequently earned a master’s degree in banking at the University of Wisconsin, after which she became a bank examiner for the state of Missouri for the remainder of her career. In retirement, she enjoyed gardening, reading mysteries, and cheering on her beloved Cardinals in baseball season.

Barbara married Chicago native Richard Nash Frish on January 17, 1970, and they raised their children in Poplar Bluff. Richard predeceased Barbara on April 17, 2004. She is survived by their three children, Tracy Frish, of St. Louis, Robbie (Lisa) Frish of Rolla, and Brad (Claire Linsenmeyer) Frish of Portland, Oregon; eight grandchildren, Ruby, Henry, Cayla, Kristen, Adam, Casey, Elizabeth, and Ben; and 12 great grandchildren. Many beloved nieces and nephews survive, as well as her sister-in-law, Dorothy Freeman, and brother-in-law, Roscoe Hill.

Barbara was also preceded in death by her parents, Hobart Adolph Freeman and Catherine Virgina (Owens) Freeman; her brothers and sisters Norma Vestal, Charles “Bud” Freeman, Rose Michel, Robert “Spunky” Freeman, Kathy Hill, and Gary Freeman.