Rebecca Barber

Rebecca Gail Barber (Becky), age 73, passed away at Colonial Gardens memory care facility in Fort Worth, Texas, on February 15, 2024. She had been plagued with heart problems for over 30 years and finally her heart just got too tired to continue. Rebecca was born in Carlsbad, New Mexico, on March 26, 1951.

She is survived by her sister Sandra Hearnsberger (spouse Ed, daughters Lisa and Leigh), brother Wayne Erwin (wife Jeanine, daughters Michelle, Kathy, Marie, and Samantha), and sister Cynthia (daughters Melinda, Lori, and son James).

After graduating from high school and a short stint in college, she went to work at the family newspaper, the Grants Daily Beacon in Grants, New Mexico, one of the few female-operated & managed newspapers in the country at the time. She later became editor of the newspaper and they received numerous awards during her tenue, including multiple E. H. Shaffer journalism awards. Also, Rebecca was president of the New Mexico Associated Press Managing Editors in 1980-81.

She was instrumental in the group that worked on the formation of Cibola County in New Mexico. After a downturn in the Grants uranium economy, she headed to Annapolis, Maryland, and took a job first at the Annapolis Capital newspaper and then later moved to public relations for the Port of Baltimore. That was a job that she enjoyed very much and continued until her retirement.

She married John Trefren in 2010, and later they moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico to retire. Rebecca volunteered at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Museum there. She loved everything about living in New Mexico, particularly Las Cruces. In 2020 she suffered a fall with a head injury in her apartment. After a few months she moved to an assisted living facility in Grapevine, Texas, to be near her sister.

Rebecca made friends easily and had many friends in Grants, Las Cruces, Baltimore, and Grapevine (she really enjoyed being the center of attention!). Rebecca had a strong interest in music and loved singing. She and John enjoyed traveling, including a few trips to St. Lucia and a 1996 trip to visit her sister in Shanghai, China.

Her favorite pastimes included watching old reruns of The Andy Griffith Show and collecting buffalo figurines of all types.

There will be a memorial service at her Grapevine living facility at a later date. According to her wish her cremains will be returned to New Mexico.