Barbara Tates

Barbara Tates

Life Story

Barbara was born in San Angelo, Texas, and grew up in Abilene and Amarillo, where she attended Fannin Junior High and Carver High School. From an early age she carried the qualities that would define her: funny, outspoken, and a natural go-getter who never met a challenge she wasn't willing to take on. As the oldest, she helped raise her siblings, and that instinct to lead, protect, and give never left her.

There was only one Barbara like her — and she made sure everyone knew it. She loved to introduce herself by pointing out that she shared her name with some of the most memorable Barbaras around — Streisand, Bush, Mandrell — and would tell you, with a grin, that she was the most memorable Barbara of them all. Vibrant, witty, and a bit of a daredevil, she was the life of every party and the kind of person whose door was always open. She spoke her own language, too: Barbara had a habit of coining her own words for whatever a moment called for, and more often than not, the people around her started using them right back at her. When something was finished, she had one way of putting it: "That's it. That's all."

Barbara was also a world-renowned traveler in her own right, always ready for the next adventure. She took cruise after cruise and made her way through countless states, always chasing a new view, a new experience, or a new story to bring home. Travel wasn't just a pastime for her — it was another way she lived out loud, and another chapter of that daredevil spirit that defined her.

Barbara built her career through a series of manufacturing jobs, working hard for her family for years. After retirement, she wasn't ready to slow down — she joined her daughter Tiffany at Taxes On The Move, continuing to work and stay connected to the people she loved. She was a faithful member of New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church, where she served as a prominent leader on multiple fundraising committees, giving her time and energy to a community that mattered deeply to her.

More than anything, Barbara loved to give. She found real joy in entertaining, cooking for the people she cared about, and making a room full of people laugh. She showed her love through service — through a good meal, a generous hand, and a listening ear. Family, faith, and the community she built around her over a lifetime were what mattered most to her, and she poured herself into all three.

She was endlessly proud of her children and grandchildren, and she loved nothing more than talking about their achievements. She'd tell anyone who would listen that whatever talent or skill you saw in one of them, they got it from her — and she was usually right. She taught the people around her, both in words and simply in the way she lived, that anything is possible: if you want something, go get it, and always find a way to enjoy your work.

Barbara Tates will be remembered as a beautiful firecracker and a born leader — witty, selfless, outspoken, and endlessly generous with her love. She leaves behind a family and community shaped by her example, and a legacy that will keep making people laugh, and keep them reaching for whatever it is they want, for a long time to come.

In Loving Memory

Barbara was preceded in death by her mother, Dorothy Ghant Walker; her father, David Lee Tates; two brothers and two sisters; and her granddaughter, LaShawn Hughes.

She leaves to cherish her memory her children's father and dear friend, Perry Hughes; her daughters, Tiffany Hughes and Dorothy Lamons, and son-in-law Jason Lamons; her sons, Sly Hughes and Diamon Osuka-Hughes, and daughter-in-law Victoria Osuka-Hughes; her grandchildren, Tyrail Hughes, Tobias Milton, Jayson Lamons, LaTraee Hughes, Hope Osuka-Hughes, and Maya Osuka-Hughes; a host of great-grandchildren; along with other relatives and a wide circle of friends whose lives she touched.