Barbara L. DeRoller

Barbara L. DeRoller, born August 13, 1938, lived a long and independent life filled with family, friendship, travel, beloved animals and more than a few adventures along the way.

The daughter of Arthur and Margaret (Groell) DeRoller, Barbara grew up on Dean Road in Spencerport as one of seven children. She attended St. John’s School in Spencerport and graduated from Nazareth Academy in 1956. She later attended college in Brockport before leaving school after beginning a career with Rochester Telephone.

Barbara joined Rochester Telephone on August 27, 1959, beginning a career that would span more than 31 years. Her work gave her some unique and memorable opportunities, including providing communications support for major golf championships at Oak Hill Country Club. She proudly saved credentials from the 1980 PGA Championship and U.S. Senior Open, as well as the 1984 U.S. Senior Open. Barbara retired from Rochester Telephone on December 28, 1990. Barbara also gave her time to the Spencerport Volunteer Ambulance. Not quite ready for retirement, she later spent time driving a school bus for the Spencerport School District before officially calling it a career.

Barbara had a lifelong love of animals and opened her home to many dogs and cats adopted from Lollypop Farm over the years. Each was lucky enough to find a home with her.

She also loved to travel—and loved a good time. One of her memorable adventures took her across the Atlantic aboard the QE2 to England, where she was there during the celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s 75th birthday. She had planned to return home aboard the Concorde, but a mechanical problem changed those plans. She also experienced the excitement of attending the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.

When she wasn’t traveling, Barbara enjoyed following her favorite teams and was a loyal fan of the New York Yankees and Buffalo Bills. Loved Elvis and collected some memorabilia from his days.

Barbara was “Aunt Barb” to many nieces and nephews and was part of a large extended family. She was predeceased by her parents, Arthur and Margaret DeRoller, and her siblings, F. Dorothy German, Georgiana Wehner, June Fishell, George DeRoller, Robert DeRoller and Jack DeRoller. She is survived by many nieces and nephews.

The family also wishes to thank John, Nancy and Pat for their continued caring friendship throughout the years, as well as the staff of The Friendly Home (Lee Place)on East Avenue for the kindness, care and compassion they provided to Barbara.

Barbara lived life on her own terms. She built a career, traveled, loved her animals, cheered faithfully for her teams and collected plenty of stories along the way. She leaves behind a lifetime of memories—and many reasons to smile when remembering Aunt Barb. In lieu of flowers, donations in Barbara’s memory may be made to Lollypop Farm, Fairport NY or the University of Rochester AD-CARE Forget-Me-Not Fund, supporting Alzheimer’s disease research in the Rochester NY community.

Barbara will be cremated and laid to rest with her parents in a private ceremony.