Barbara Lee Spraragen, 86

Posted

EAST GREENWICH, RI – Barbara Lee (Fox) Spraragen, beloved wife, mother and grandmother, born on July 4, 1931 in Schenectady, New York, to Mary Fox (Cramer) and George A. Fox, passed away on May 29. The first in her family to attend college, she graduated from Syracuse University as a drama major, and received a master’s degree in speech from Teachers College, Columbia University. 

She is survived by her husband of 63 years, Dr. Sanford C. Spraragen; her children, David, Lisa, Susan and Joseph;  grandchildren, Avraham, Eliana, Nechama, Yaakov, Bruria, Deborah, Tamar, Shalom and Ezra; and her sister, Regina Schwartz. In the 1960s she taught speech in the public schools of Brooklyn, New York. She was a member of Hadassah and was active in the League of Women Voters. 

A resident of East Greenwich since 1972, she supported environmental causes including Save the Bay. Mrs. Spraragen played the piano and was an avid reader, theater-goer and supporter of live classical music. She devoted her life to her children and imbued in all of them a love of learning and the arts. She volunteered her skills as a speech teacher to special needs children, Soviet Jews and other immigrants. Donations may be made in memory of Barbara Lee Spraragen to her favorite summer music festival: Kingston Chamber Music Festival, PO Box 1733, Kingston, RI  02881.