Barbara M. Reifsteck

Barbara Mertens Reifsteck, 90, passed away on April 12, 2020. Born in Bronxville, NY, daughter of the late Jacob and Emmy Mertens, the second of three children. Graduated from Cornell University with a BS degree in Sociology. She met Edward (Ted) R. Reifsteck at Cornell and they married shortly after graduation. From Ithaca, they moved to the territory of Alaska, where they raised 2 children and then returned to NY, to raise their third. In the early years while living in Greece, NY and later in Pittsford, NY she loved to go skiing with her family either locally or short trips up to the big mountains in Vermont. Barbara volunteered for many years at Planned Parenthood in Rochester and then she and Ted moved out to Mendon, NY where she spent her time doing the three things she loved the most; reading, writing, and riding. She was a contributing writer to the local Honeoye Falls newspaper and the Finger Lakes Regional Magazine where she had written numerous articles and finished her writing career with her memoir, “Second Glances”. In 1992 she orchestrated the first family reunion at Yosemite. These continued for every year thereafter where the growing family would get together in various locations. It was a way for her to maintain contact with her growing number of grandchildren and later great-grandchildren. It was also a way for the grandchildren to maintain close ties. Barbara is predeceased by her parents, brother, sister and her husband, Edward R Reifsteck. She is survived by her three sons and spouses, Thomas and Amber, Jeffrey, and Daniel and Carla, her twelve grandchildren, and 8 great-grandchildren as well as a neice and nephew. Her ashes will be buried next to her husband in the North Bloomfield Cemetery, NY at a later date.