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. 

At this point Barbara and Marcia headed back to Temple University to start work on their advanced degrees in Studio Art.  Larry had been accepted into the Peace Corps and was assigned to an Instructional TV project in Bogota, Colombia.  Barbara and Larry became engaged before he left for Colombia.  During Larry’s second Christmas in Colombia, Barbara flew down to spend Christmas with him.  They had a great time seeing the sights in and around Bogota.  Christmas Eve was spent at Bill's Piano Bar in downtown Bogota.  Dinner was good, the drinks were good, but most of the diners seemed tired and a bit dispirited, as did the piano player who was an older gray-haired man in a slightly wrinkled dark blue suit. He was an excellent piano player who played classic old favorites, but no one was applauding his efforts.  Barbara started clapping after his next song concluded and a few others joined in.  The piano player was startled and perked up a bit.   After each succeeding song the applause grew more animated, as did the music and piano player.  The evening was fun.  The music was excellent.  People left happy and numerous tips were left in the tip tray, which pleased the piano player.  As Barbara left, she got a smile and a wink from the piano player.

When Barbara finished her M.A. at Tyler School of Art and started teaching, she knew it was important to find a church where she and Larry could be married.  She and Marcia found a new apartment located midway between their two jobs.  This turned out to be King of Prussia.  They went searching for a church and found a lovely little church nearby in historic Valley Forge, St. Matthews Methodist Church.  Both Barbara and Marcia joined the church and sang in the choir.   On July 31, 1964.  Barbara and Larry were married on a lovely summer day.  Barbara’s dear friend, Marcia, with whom she shared so many adventures, hard times, sad times, happy times, and someone who always provided a shoulder to lean on when needed, was by her side as Maid of Honor. 

For the next couple of months, Barbara and Larry lived in a cabin overlooking a fish pond in rural Southeastern North Carolina. Here Larry worked on his Masters Thesis in Communications, which was based on his experiences working with the Peace Corps.  Barbara painted, sketched, and produced woodcuts and prints.  In the summer of 1965, Larry secured a job with Indiana University’s Television Station as a TV Producer Director.  Barbara was hired by the University Art Library as an Assistant Librarian.  She also did freelance art work, including work for the TV station.  They lived in a log cabin a few miles from Bloomington, with a beautiful view of a pasture with grazing cattle.  At night you could only see the stars.  No house lights.  No lights in the distance.  Heather was born there in 1967.  During this time Larry read about an innovative Instructional TV project in American Samoa, which was administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior.  They were interviewed in Washington, D.C. and Larry was hired as a TV Producer-Director.  They departed for American Samoa in the summer of 1968, when daughter Heather was 10 months old.

Turbulent times were underway state-side, but life moved at a slower pace in Samoa.  The people were friendly, helpful, and almost always smiling.  Barbara learned right away that wood carving was a traditional and important art form.  They carved designs in wood blocks, inked the blocks with natural dyes and pressed the blocks onto the tapa cloths made from pounded mulberry bark.  The Samoans carved intricate designs onto their longboats, which were carved from tree trunks.  Many other examples of their work could be found in local shops and markets.  Barbara soon made friends with a Samoan family that lived in the sea-side village of Acili.  The wife had the rank of a High Talking Chief and she opened many doors to village and church life.  Barbara immersed herself in the Samoan culture and life.  They spent many Sundays in Acili, going to church, swimming, and bathing in a freshwater water pool fed by a mountain stream.  The family ate traditional Samoan meals that were cooked in earth-covered ovens by the young men in the household. 

Barbara was inspired by this rich culture and environment and decided that woodcuts would be the perfect medium to capture life in Samoa. During the two years she was in Samoa, Barbara was very prolific, producing woodcut after woodcut.  Each year she exhibited her work in the Intercontinental Hotel in Pago Pago.  Each exhibit sold out and she took orders for more prints.  An Art Gallery owner in Honolulu also sold her prints.   She also became involved in the Island Theater productions, designing and making costumes.  In fact, the first time Barbara and Larry collaborated on a project was when Larry directed the musical, The Fantasticks, for the Island Theater.  Barbara designed the set and made the costumes, and Larry directed and acted in the play.  All the performances sold out. 

After two years, Barbara and Larry returned to the states to seek employment.   Larry interviewed for jobs in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.  At the time, the whole East Coast was covered in smog.  Larry’s former Production Supervisor in Samoa also invited Larry to come to Michigan State University to interview for a job.  He was hired as a Producer-Director for Instructional and Public Television in 1970.  The blue, clear skies in Michigan was a welcome change from the East Coast.  After a few months, they started their antique business, doing shows and markets on the weekends.  Their interest in antiques was piqued when they made a trip, while in Samoa, to New Zealand with friends Bill and Barbara Roeder, avid antiquers.  While there, they purchased many fine, relatively inexpensive English antiques and had them shipped to Pago Pago.  Thus, when they arrived in the states they had a stock of good antiques they could start business with.  After a while, Barbara opened a shop just across from the MSU campus.  The students loved her shop.  She carried vintage clothes, jewelry, Art Nouveau and Art Deco items and a wide variety of collectables.  This was a perfect business for Barbara. With her knowledge of art and art history, she became adept at researching, identifying, repairing and restoring.  She taught herself how to restore vintage paintings, and that ability brought more business her way and also helped her expand her own collective of vintage paintings.  During the following years Barbara continued to enter art shows.  She did stained glass commissions, fashion design, graphics for television, stage sets for church plays, designed book covers for publication, and designed promotional materials for various businesses.  

Their son, Brett, was born in 1977, and they raised their children in East Lansing.  With two busy children who were involved in music and sports, there was a need to stay put more.  In the early 1980s, Barbara began her career at the East Lansing Public Library as a staff librarian and manager of the art gallery. She continued to produce and show art, and maintain the antique business, albeit with less gypsy-ing.  In the early 2000s, Barbara retired from the library, shortly after Larry retired from MSU.  They moved to Minnesota in 2006 to be closer to their daughter, Heather, son-in-law, Dirk, and their granddaughter, Sophia, who was born in that same year.  In retirement, Barbara enjoyed swim club, book club, still dabbled in antiques, and attended plays at the Guthrie and Park Square Theaters.  Barbara fiercely loved her children and grandchildren, and would do anything for them.  Barbara was delighted when Brett and daughter-in-law, Reeza, gave them a grandson, Idris, in 2018.  Their third grandchild was born to Brett and Reeza on June 10, 2021.  Barbara had been diagnosed with advanced colon cancer just a couple of months before that, so miraculously she lived to meet her new granddaughter, Sanaa, about a week before she passed on July 5.  

Barbara is survived by her husband, Larry McMullen, her daughter, Heather McMullen (Dirk Koenig), and son, Brett McMullen (Reeza).  Barbara was preceded in death by her parents Dorothea Van Yea and George Elmer Brayman, and all her siblings: Edward Brayman, George Brayman, Bob Brayman, June Brayman, Dorothy Brayman (Rebmann), Jeanne Brayman (Belfield). and Patricia Brayman (Mowton). 

Barbara’s dear friend, Marcia (Johnston) Weikert, who provided much of the information through their college years and beyond, had this to say: “And thus ends the saga of two friends who ultimately went in different directions, but always remained soul mates over the miles.”