Barbara Bertelsen McNamara, born in Exeter, New Hampshire to Grace Seward Bertelsen and Albert N. Bertelsen, passed away on November 24, 2023. She was 84 years old.

Barbara grew up primarily in Hingham, Massachusetts, graduating from Hingham High School in 1957 as a multisport and record setting athlete. She attended Tufts University, graduating in 1961 with a bachelor's degree in psychology. She minored in fine arts for which she attended the Museum School in Boston. She was a member of Chi Omega Fraternity while at Tufts.

She married John McNamara on Ground Hog Day in 1962 and gave birth to their first daughter, Barbara, later that year. Her second daughter Jeanne (Daly) was born a year later. She raised both girls mostly in Scituate, Massachusetts. Barbara earned her Master's Degree in education from Antioch University in 1978 as a single, working mom. Barbara worked for many years for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, retiring in 2001 as director of human resources for the southeast region of the Department of Mental Retardation. Barbara moved to the Peregrine Woods neighborhood in Marshfield in 2004 and Linden Ponds in Hingham in 2015.

She took up wood carving in the 1970's and stone sculpting in the 1980's, Mahjong and Tai Chi in the 1990's and beyond. Upon retirement, Barbara indulged her great passion for travel. She visited exotic locations worldwide; her favorite trips being amateur archaeological digs to Cambodia, Mexico, and Easter Island.

An animal lover, Barbara also adopted several "retired" greyhounds upon her own retirement.

Barbara was a fierce and tireless advocate for her elder daughter and others with intellectual disabilities, and she was the number one fan of all her beloved two grandsons' activities.

In addition to her daughters and grandsons, Quinlan Daly and Reese Daly, she leaves her brother Albert Bertelsen and her son-in-law David Daly, all of Marshfield. An interment in Exeter, New Hampshire is planned.