Barbara Jean Najjar of Dartmouth died on Tuesday December 17, 2024, after being struck by an SUV while she was walking with her husband.  

 

On that day the world lost as kind, friendly, thoughtful, generous, patient, and loving a human being as ever walked the earth. She had many virtues-beauty, intelligence, honesty — but when people stop her husband on the street and tell him what they remember about her, the first thing they mention is her sweetness.

 

Barbara was born on December 14, 1951, in Johnstown, PA, the second child of Viola (Alessandro) and George Najjar Jr.  She graduated from Bishop McCort High School, where she edited the yearbook and participated in Junior Achievement.  he also was a leader in Girl Scouts. She then went to the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, where she majored in history and political science and was elected president of the Student Senate.

 

She spent her entire career in business, starting when she was in high school. She worked as a buyer, then a retail manager for department stores in Johnstown and Altoona, PA, and New Jersey. She moved to Andover, MA, for a job as a district manager for the Gap, which she held for several years. After a year selling insurance for John Hancock, she became a retail manager for LensCrafters, moving to Easton, MA, in 1991, then Dartmouth in 1993.

 

In 1991 she married James Hijiya, a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She was the perfect wife for him, and he always considered himself the luckiest man in the world.

 

After 18 years at LensCrafters, Barbara got laid off in 2008, at the start of the Great Recession. After two years of futilely looking for work, she joined Jim in a happy retirement. When Jim met her former employees, they often would tell him that she was the best boss they ever had. She had treated them with the same respect and kindness that she gave to everyone else she knew.

 

After leaving the work force, Barbara devoted herself to human service. She volunteered at the Solanus Casey Food Pantry in New Bedford, the Social Concerns Ministry at St. Mary's Church in Dartmouth, and the Southworth Public Library in Dartmouth. She also lectored at St. Mary's.

 

In what free time remained, she grew vegetables and flowers, took walks with her husband, swam at the YMCA, baked cookies and candy, and read the books that she had never had time to read while employed. She also took very good care of her husband, doing most of the shopping, cooking, and house-keeping and tending to his health and comfort.

 

She always loved travel: to Rio de Janeiro and Switzerland after college and, after she met Jim, to the Netherlands, France, England, Italy, Bali, the Panama Canal, Barbados, and Japan.  The couple's favorite vacation spot, however, was Hawaii, where they went about a dozen times.  While employed by LensCrafters, Barbara went on a "Gift of Sight" mission to Morocco, providing eyeglasses to people who needed them but previously had had no access.

 

Barbara was preceded in death by her father George.  She is survived by her husband, Jim, of Dartmouth; her mother, Viola Najjar of Johnstown; and ten sisters and brothers: Evelyn McCallum of Encinitas, CA, and her husband Joe; Carolyn Najjar of Manns Choice, PA, and her partner Tony Kordell; Christine Larsen of Columbus, OH, and her husband Clark; Larry Najjar of Louisville, KY, and his wife Caryn; George Najjar of Louisville, KY; Joann Mathews of Jeannette, PA, and her husband David; Michael Najjar of San Francisco and his wife Lisa; Mary Wilkinson of Jeannette, PA, and her husband Rob; Paul Najjar of Louisville, KY ; and Michelle Santee of Johnstown, PA, and her husband Keith.  She also is survived by many nieces and nephews and their spouses and children.

 

Her Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday January 17th at 10 AM at St. Mary's Church, South Dartmouth.  Visiting hours will be on Thursday January 16th from 4-7 PM at the Saunders-Dwyer Home for Funerals, 495 Park St., New Bedford.  In lieu of flowers, gifts in memory of Barbara may be given to the Solanus Casey Food Pantry of New Bedford or the Social Concerns Ministry of St. Mary's Church in Dartmouth. For online condolence book, please visit www.saundersdwyer.com.