Barbara Jeanne Richert

          A Celebration of Life and Art for Barbara Jeanne Richert, 76, of Lufkin, will be held Saturday, November 15, 2025, at The Grand in downtown Lufkin, with a retrospective from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Attendees are invited to bring their piece(s) of Barbara’s artwork to be displayed in a Retrospective Exhibit during the celebration.

          Mrs. Richert was born on November 17, 1948, in Buffalo, New York, to  the late Leslie K. Richert and Elizabeth (Day) Richert, and passed peacefully at her home in Lufkin, Texas, on October 16, 2025, with her beloved wife, Guyla Carlton, by her side.

          Barbara’s life was filled with curiosity, creativity, and courage. She attended school in Canandaigua, New York and went on to graduate high school in Monroeville, Pennsylvania.  She traveled through Europe by train with her best friend Shane and attended the Slade School of Art in London on scholarship. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts with honors from Penn State University, where she was a four-year member of the fencing team.

          Her career began as a technical artist drawing U.S. Navy submarine schematics for the Atomic Nuclear Commission, then Xerox Corporation where she became the company’s first female production foreman for the east coast. West coast called her to San Francisco where she spent a memorable year selling candle wax and incense at the corner of Haight and Ashbury, an experience that reflected her free spirit and zest for life. 

          Barbara went on to earn her MBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1982 and returned to Xerox in a leadership role before joining Digital Equipment Corporation (now Hewlett-Packard) in management. In 1994, her creative heart led her in a new direction. She and a business partner opened the beloved Winnsboro Bakery and Café, blending her love of food and community. The bakery quickly became a local favorite—twice named “Business of the Year” and featured in the Dallas Morning News and Texas Highways.

          After a decade of success, Barbara sold the business and returned to her lifelong passion for art, opening her own studio and focusing on watercolor and pastel painting. She was a proud multi-year board member of the “Main Street Program” in downtown Winnsboro.

           After meeting Guyla, Barbara moved to Lufkin and they were married in Winnipeg Manitoba, in 2007 and celebrated on a camping trip across Canada. Barbara continued to share her artistic talents by teaching both adults and children at her downtown studio, the Museum of East Texas Summer Art Camp, and as a volunteer in the LISD Host reading program, at Anderson Elementary as a volunteer art instructor and volunteer for Special Olympics for Lufkin High School.

           Over the next two decades, Barbara and Guyla filled their lives with adventure, canoeing and boating the rivers of Texas, touring the U.S. in their camper van, exploring European landmarks, and joining impromptu drum circles on the beaches near Barb’s cherished home on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico for which she was the on-site construction manager.

           Barbara’s art celebrated the natural beauty around her. A devoted birder, her mornings began with feeding her feathered friends and delighting in identifying their songs. Her artwork, much like her life, was filled with the color, warmth, and joy of nature.

          She is survived by her wife, wife, Guyla Carlton of Lufkin; daughter and son-in-law, Aubin Bryan and Kevin Ferrara of Houston; son, Zach Bryan of Brooklyn, NY; nephew, Tom Conley and his wife Anne Young; niece, Katie Conley and her husband, Mike Grogan; lifelong friends Shane Gangi-Smith and Ellen Ehlenbeck; and many dear friends from Lufkin, Dallas, Winnsboro, and Vieques, Puerto Rico.

           In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Museum of East Texas Summer Art Camp or the Ellen Trout Zoo—two places that reflect Barbara’s lifelong love of creativity and nature.

           Shafer Funeral Home, Lufkin directors.