We at the FSH Society were deeply moved and inspired to receive yesterday a magnificent bequest of $50,000 from the Barbara A. Chin Trust. This gift will enable the Society to fund work that Barbara cared deeply about: education and support for people with FSH muscular dystrophy, like herself and her late son Jimmie, and research toward treatments and a cure.
Barbara and her husband Jim, who serves on the Society’s Board of Directors, have supported the Society not only financially but through countless hours of volunteer service. Barbara changed the lives of many patients and families through her peer counseling. The entire FSHD community owes her so much.
Barbara’s bequest helps ensure that future generations will enjoy lives free of the burdens of this disease. Individuals and families even of modest means can leave a powerful legacy by including the FSH Society in their will or estate plans.
Barbara Anne Chin (1945-2016)
When it comes to a life well lived, Barbara Anne Chin came, saw and conquered. She passed peacefully at home Saturday, November 26, 2016, surrounded by loved ones including her husband of 47 years, Jim and her daughter, Julie.
Barbara was an accountant by trade, but a mother to all by heart. She loved spending time with family and friends, singing, and a vodka nightcap. She was a great cook and an expert at throwing dinner parties. Barbara was famous for her Pasta Bolognese, Thanksgiving stuffing and Chinese cuisine, which is important when you’re an Italian/Polish gal married to a man named Chin.
Barbara had a deep love for children. She was a wonderful and loving mother to son Jimmy and daughter Julie, and also cared for many children in many ways. For instance, she began the “Mitten Tree” program at St. Pius X Church, which collected gifts for underprivileged kids at Christmas. She also helped match more than 300 inner city children with families in Westchester County, for summer vacations through “The Fresh Air Fund.” Additionally, Barbara helped start the school lunch program in Scarsdale.
Plus, she volunteered for a number of years at Blythedale Children’s Hospital working closely with children with special needs. The kids there loved her, not only for her kind heart, but also because she had a cool scooter, like so many of them.
Barbara had FSH Muscular Dystrophy, a genetic disease that causes atrophy of the muscles. Not allowing her condition to stop her, she travelled the world, loved to take cruises, and even once climbed the rocky stairs of Ephesus on her scooter, which she wouldn’t recommend.
Barbara was born in Brooklyn in 1945 to parents Anna Figuccio and Jerry Ryniec. She is survived by her sister Christine Ford. Barbara lived most of her life in New York including 22 years in Scarsdale and 14 years in Ardsley. She also resided in Philadelphia and Chicago. She moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2014 when her grandson was born, which she said was “the biggest thrill of her life.”
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