Reverend Barbara Louise Hebner
April 22, 1935 - March 13, 2026
Reverend Barbara Louise Hebner, age 90, of Newark, DE, died peacefully and gently at Christiana Hospital after a mere 24 hours in hospice on March 13th, 2026. She passed on as she had learned to live, by knowing her mind, and saying a definitive yes to her next adventure. She was predeceased by her parents; four ex-husbands; and two of her children, Grant Peebles and Dr. Hilary Petit; as well as her only sibling, Linda Fletcher. She leaves behind six remaining children and their respective spouses, Laura Peebles (Ellen Fingerman), Megan Martin (Gareth Smith), Laird Cummings (Jennifer Cummings), Heather Petit (Will Hurd), Margaret Badger, and Michael Petit (Kristan Petit); plus, a fair number of technically unrelated people who considered her Mom. Also surviving her are two cousins, Lois, Carol; niece and her wife, Deb Fletcher (Julie Fletcher); niece, Cathy Cummings; and two nephews, Harold Fletcher, Jim Cummings (Susan Meeker). The litany continues with eleven grandchildren, Anna Cava Grosso, Lily Grosso, Daniel Badger, Quinton Randolph-Banks, Li Cummings, Gabriel Hurd, Brendan Hurd, Devin Petit, Ian Cummings, Meriel Hurd, Rowan Hurd; and a great grandchild. If you’re looking for a partridge in a pear tree after all that, she wouldn’t blame you.
Rev. Hebner was born in Hollywood, CA, in 1935, and lived there through high school. As a child and teen, family journeys took her to both Mexico and the Redwoods of northern California. She and her sister, Linda, loved the Redwoods so much that in 1998 they had a grove in Navarro River Redwoods State Park dedicated in their names. Barbara’s love of travel also grew from her early experiences, sending her (often with her sister and other family) to Alaska, Churchill (Canada), Europe, Scotland, Mexico, the Baltic, Norway, Sweden, Kenya, Tanzania, and Egypt.
Baba (her ‘grandma name’) was unwilling to stay inside the lines society drew for women of her era. She said yes to every adventure and opportunity that landed in front of her, and grabbed a few more that might have seemed out of reach. She was a wife and a mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. And she was once a bonded messenger for Bank of America. And a mathematician at Ryan Aeronautical, plus an engineering technician for Douglas Aircraft, both at Edwards Air Force Base (like the women ‘computers’ in the movie Hidden Figures only 5 years earlier – which is how she knew some Mercury astronauts). In one of her switches between coasts for her husbands’ careers, she earned a certificate in protocol (think ‘embassy dinner etiquette’) and was an official city guide in Washington, D.C. She did bat research fieldwork for the Rockefeller Foundation in the Southwest and in Mexico. At various points amongst those jobs, she was a speechwriter for a senator, a grant writer, a research associate for an agricultural research station, an award winning short-story writer, a science editor for professors, and office staff for the Women’s Studies department of the University of Delaware (UD), where she also occasionally taught.
She got her bachelor’s degree in English & Anthropology (double major) at Colorado State University in the early 1970s, and later went on to get an M.Div. from Lancaster Theological seminary, in 1986. She was ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister the same year, and served various roles for churches in Brooklyn, NY, Turnersville, NJ, and Newark, DE, as well as being a consulting minister for her district and serving on the Diversity Commission at UD. She was a popular officiant, performing hundreds of weddings before she retired in 1996.
After retirement, she spent many hours sharing her wonder at the cosmos, space, science, nature, music, theater, art, and travel with her grandchildren. She shared her knowledge, observations, and insight with anyone who might find them of service, right up to the last days of her life.
Our mother / aunt / grandmother / great-grandmother / friend was one of a kind. Complicated and imperfect, insightful and curious, and determined to leave the world better. She was loved, and will be missed. We all hope she is well and finally healed in all ways, off enjoying this next great adventure.
The Celebration of Life service to honor the life of Rev. Barbara Hebner will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Newark, 420 Willa Road, Newark, DE, on April 25th, 2026, at 2pm. Online attendance will be available.
In lieu of flowers, charitable donations can be made in her name to an environmental program of your choice, especially anything to do with plastics cleanup.
Alysia Lee
Mrs. Barbara, gonna miss all the stories you told me. It was a honor to be in your presence. Love you
Jessica Schiffman
To Barbara’s extensive family and admirers,
Barbara and I worked together in Women’s Studies. Her interest in so many aspects of this world and her tremendous energy were huge assets to our department. She and I shared a love for bats and I remember fondly the many stories of her adventures. She was a presence to be remembered.
Mir Islam
I was fortunate to know Barbara only during the last 2-3 years of her life which was full of many challenges and accomplishments. If she kept a diary I would barely be a paragraph in an encyclopedia! She was a legend and probably should be immortalized through a movie like the «Gone With the Wind «!! I can almost hear her asking at the Pearly Gate « Lord, I am here, what’s next?»
Gene niland
Fantastic woman, a loss for the Newark area
Nancy Plummer
Through the years I have had connections with this large family that Barbara created, organically and also on purpose. Barbara was a nearby neighbor, an inspiration even during casual conversation. She lived with integrity, and intention. And walked through her life stepping into her own power. She left a mark on all who knew her her
Cynthia Houghton
Thank you for sharing her story. It sounds like she made the most of her life and left a positive wake.