Barbara D. Mears

BARRE TOWN — Barbara Dudley Mears, 73, of Ledge Drive, died Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. Her family had been at her bedside.

Born Nov. 21, 1938, in Plainfield, she was the daughter of Roy L. and Mae (Belville) Dudley and had attended both Plainfield and Marshfield high schools.

On Oct. 25, 1957, she married Richard M. Mears in Plainfield. They lived in Marshfield and since 1965 at their present home in Barre Town.

Barbara had worked for several years at the Capital Candy Co. in Barre and was a longtime employee at the Capital City Press in Berlin as a bindery operator, retiring in 2006, when the business closed.

She enjoyed NASCAR racing, her family and grandchildren, and was an avid Boston Red Sox fan.

Besides her husband, she leaves her son Scott Mears and his companion, Elise Burton, of Barre; daughters Susan Dukette and her husband, Steven, of Troy, and Shellie Wright and her husband, Brian, of West Danville; and daughter-in-law Ann-Marie Mears, of Barre Town; 10 grandchildren: Ashley, Brittany, Dillon, Connor and Carmen Mears, Aaron Dukette and Andrea Houlne, Jack Beauparlant, and Stephanie and Nathaniel Mears; and two great-grandchildren: Calvin and Gus Mears; also three sisters: Joann Maxham, Connie Durkee and Kay Andrews; and nieces, nephews and grand-nieces and -nephews.

Besides her parents she was predeceased by her son Gary Mears and her brother, Richard Dudley.

Her funeral service will be held Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012, at 2 p.m. in the Hooker and Whitcomb Funeral Home, 7 Academy St., Barre.

Later interment will be made in the Plain-Mont Cemetery in East Montpelier.

Friends may call at the funeral home on Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, 1 Medical Center Drive, HB 7070, Lebanon, NH 03756-0001.