Barbara Ann Brayman was born in Westchester County,  New York on November 19, 1938, the youngest of eight children born to Dorothea Henrietta Van Yea and George Elmer Brayman.   Barbara lost her father at the age of 4.  Her mother never remarried, and during the war years Barbara, her mother and several of her sisters lived in a large Victorian house in Yonkers, New York, while brothers and brothers-in-law were off to fight in World War II.  Barbara was an adventurous and athletic child, spending much of her time with friends, happily exploring and playing in the green spaces of the city.  

Barbara graduated from Gorton High School in Yonkers, NY in 1956.  She attended SUNY-New Paltz in the fall of 1956 and majored in Art Education.  During the summers she worked in a variety of jobs:  counselor for a girls camp in the Catskills, waitressing, and giving art lessons to children. She worked her way through college as a nanny for a local family.  She was a member of the Phi Kappa Pi sorority, where her artistic talents along with her two best friends, Marcia Johnston and Sandy Short (also fine artists) were given complete creative control over all artistic projects: parade floats, elaborate costumes and decorations for parties and plays, and various other creative pursuits. 

After graduating from SUNY – New Paltz  in 1960, Barbara and Marcia both got jobs teaching art in North White Plains, NY.  They soon got involved in Community Theater and they tried out for the musical Good News directed by a retired Broadway director.  They both got parts and Barbara ended up getting the lead.  They also designed and built the sets, as well as the costumes.  During this time Barbara and her dear friend, Marcia (Johnston) Weikert, classmate and teaching colleague, lived an exciting bohemian life:  teaching, creating, entertaining, and traveling to New York City to attend plays and musicals on weekends and to eat at cheap, but good Italian Restaurants.  They always bought standing room only tickets to the plays and musicals because they had no money. Usually at intermission they found a seat. 

After teaching for two years all this “arty” stuff got them worked up.  They decided they wanted to go back to school and study Art, not Art Education.   They applied to Tyler School of Art at Temple University, were accepted and spent countless hours in the studio painting, sculpting and printmaking.  They spent endless hours with the nationally known potter, Rudy Staffel, making pots and sculptures out of clay. Barbara earned an MFA in Graphics and Painting in 1964. At the graduation ceremony on the Temple campus, painter Andrew Wyeth received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts at the same time Both Barbara and Marcia received their degrees.  They both secured jobs teaching art in the Delaware County Schools outside Philadelphia and shared an apartment in King of Prussia, next door to Valley Forge. 

 In the early 1960s Marcia had been dating a fellow teacher, Wes Van Tasel, who decided to study for a Masters in Drama at the University of North Carolina.  They still corresponded, and in 1962 Wes wrote Marcia suggesting that she and Barbara should drive down to Carolina for Washington’s Birthday weekend.  He said that he had a perfect date for Barbara.  On the way south they drove through a major snowstorm in Philadelphia and a parade in Washington, DC.  As they made their way south, the weather became like spring.  When they arrived in Chapel Hill, the flowers were blooming and the weather was warm.  They had arrived in Blue Heaven, a term used  by the locals to describe their University community.  Barbara’s date was Larry McMullen, a grad student working on an M.A. in Communications and Drama.  Larry was in a play that Wes was directing, and the girls were to meet them at a rehearsal hall on campus.   Larry was playing a character with a scar slashed across his face, twisted mouth and scowl, when the girls walked in.  Both were very pretty.  Larry knew the tall gorgeous blonde was his date.  He wondered if she was the “one.”  He also wondered if his appearance was turning her off.  Not so.Everyone had a great weekend and Barbara and Marcia decided to come back at Easter to check out the Outer Banks.  Larry was working his second summer in the outdoor drama, The Lost Colony, on Roanoke Island.  He was acting in the play and was Assistant Director.  Barbara and Marcia arrived on the Outer Banks in June, found jobs in the Lost Colony promotion and publicity department and rented a house in great disrepair, but with a great view of the water.  Marcia and Barbara hosted fish frys, cookouts, and cut hair for actors in the play.  Larry and Barbara were pretty serious at this point.  The summer was magical.