Necrology

Barbara Baldwin Graves Starnes

May. 4, 1933-Feb. 10, 2024

Barbara Baldwin Graves Starnes P’80, GP’11, a Hamilton friend and former employee who spent much of her life on College Hill sharing warmth and hospitality with students and alumni, died on Feb. 10, 2024.

Born on May 4, 1933, she was the daughter of longtime Professor of History Edgar “Digger” Graves and his wife, Beatrice. Growing up, she loved sports, particularly ice hockey. According to her family in a published obituary, “She played on the College Hill Killers boys’ team who were archrivals of the Clinton Devil Dogs. [She] loved golf and tennis at Hamilton and eventually at the Sadaquada Golf Club.” 

After a short stint at Wells College, Barbara graduated from the Katherine Gibbs School in Boston before assuming a post at the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C. After the loss of her brother, Stephen Graves ’54, to polio in 1956, she spent time in Turkey with the consul general of Istanbul, Robert Miner ’32, and his family.

After returning to the States the following year, Barbara married Hamilton history professor William Starnes in the Chapel. The couple welcomed a son, Stephen Starnes ’80, before her husband died in 1961.

A single mother, Barbara split her time between raising her son and eventually graduating from Syracuse University and later with a master’s degree from Temple. She pursued a 30-year career in Whitesboro Central Schools as an elementary classroom teacher and later a reading specialist. Sabbaticals took her to Japan, the Australian outback, and China, where she studied methods of teaching children with learning differences. She taught graduate classes for teachers at SUNY College of Technology in Utica and, after finishing her career with Hamilton’s Higher Education Opportunity Program, oversaw tutoring services.

In her retirement, Barbara often embarked on global expeditions to such locales as Australasia, the Antarctic, the Galapagos, Machu Picchu, and eventually Africa, which she visited more than 20 times. On her last safari in 2014, she celebrated her 80th birthday accompanied by her son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter, Elizabeth Starnes Califano ’11.

Closer to Hamilton, Barbara frequently welcomed students, alumni, and faculty members to her home on College Hill for dinners and other occasions. For years, she hosted international students during breaks, drove them to doctor appointments or the airport, and, in one instance, changed a student’s life by helping her attain permanent legal status in the U.S. She served in loco parentis to many.

Barbara consistently supported causes important to her, including the Hamilton Fund, women’s ice hockey, the Root Glen, and a family scholarship fund. For many years she was a docent at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute (now the Munson) and the Kirkland Town Library. She was a founding member of the board of the Clinton A Better Chance program and volunteered as marshal for the LPGA at local events.

In 2016, Barbara was honored with one of the College’s premier honors, the Jeff Little ’71 Volunteer of the Year Award. “Those who love Hamilton, who treasure its history and cherish the opportunities and friendships they found here, do what they can to help the College flourish,” the citation read. “Even among such loyal supporters, you stand as an inspiration for your decades of quiet dedication.”

Barbara Starnes, who regularly referred to herself as the longest resident of College Hill not yet in the College Cemetery, is survived by her son and his wife, her granddaughter and her husband, and two great-grandchildren.

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