Barbara Ann (Lydon) Campbell

Barbara Ann (Lydon) Campbell of Cohasset (formerly of Medford) passed away peacefully on February 27, 2017, surrounded by her loving family, after a five-month battle with advanced melanoma. She was 68 years old.  Born and raised in Medford, Barbara was the second of five children of John B. Lydon and Claire (Regan) Lydon.  She is survived by her beloved husband of 48 years, Dick Campbell, and her three children: Rich Campbell and his wife Elizabeth of Wellesley, Sean Campbell and his wife Melanie of Wellesley, and Lauren (Campbell) McClain and her husband Adam of Holliston. Barbara also leaves behind her sisters Rosemary, Ellen (Goldberg), and Kathleen (Barretto), her brother John, many nieces and nephews, and seven adoring grandchildren: Lydon, Rachel, Brian, Conor, Elliott, Adele and Bonnie. 

The Lydon family has long and deep roots in Medford, primarily in the Hillside and Fulton Heights neighborhoods. They were devout congregants in St. Joseph’s and St. Francis Assisi parishes.  At the center of the extended Lydon family were Barbara’s paternal grandfather, Peter Lydon, originally from North Cambridge, and her grandmother, Mabel (Downes) Lydon, who was raised and educated in Ireland.  Barbara’s maternal grandparents, Jim Regan and Elva (Cronkhite) Regan, were from Somerville.

For more than 30 years, Barbara summered in Humarock Beach where her children and later her grandchildren regularly followed her in searches of the tidal pools to study nature’s wonders.  Weekends at Humarock were joyous occasions for the extended family of children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, and cousins.

Barbara loved playing golf with her husband and friends.  She was a member of Hatherly Golf Club in Scituate, Massachusetts, Bent Pine Golf Club and Quail Valley/River Club in Vero Beach, Florida, and Queenwood Golf Club in Ottershaw, Surrey, England.

Barbara was a quiet but committed philanthropist.  She founded the Krystle Campbell Scholarship at the University of Massachusetts Boston in honor of her fellow Medford native and Medford High School alumna who was killed in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.  The scholarship provides significant financial support to women planning careers in business.  Barbara’s philanthropy also served Rosie’s Place, Nativity Prep, the Pine Street Inn, Father Bill’s, the Boys and Girls Club of Boston, the Scituate Animal Shelter, and many others.  Barbara was a friend to many and an enemy to none.

A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Anthony’s Church, Summer St., Cohasset at 10AM on Friday, March 3.  Family and friends with gather to celebrate Barbara on Thursday, March 2 from 4-8PM at McNamara-Sparrell Funeral Home, 160 So. Main St. (across from St. Anthony Church), Cohasset.  In lieu of flowers, please consider donations in her memory to the Scituate Animal Shelter, 780 Chief Justice Cushing Hwy., Scituate, MA 02066.

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