Barbara R. Coughlin

Barbara Rochelle Coughlin - Family, Food, Love

Barbara Rochelle Sadler was born November 8, 1941 in Brooklyn New York to parents Abe and Ida Sadler. She grew up with her loving parents and only sibling, brother Lawrence Richard Sadler, in Flushing Queens. She graduated Jamaica High School. She bore one child, Michael, May 27, 1963, through her first marriage to Stephen Freeman.

Barbara then married Gerald Coughlin December 3, 1971 and has been blessed with 49 years of marriage. Barbara and Gerald spent the prime of their lives in Oceanside, Long Island where they raised Michael. During these years Barbara worked as a Medical Records Clerk at Lydia Hall Hospital in Freeport, LI and then as a Salesperson for Rugby Pharmaceuticals in Rockville Centre, LI. She won many national awards for excellent sales performance. Her sales success is most directly attributable to her natural ability to really understand and care about people. Many people, even her customers, felt comfortable sharing personal life details and she had an uncanny ability to remember what was important and play it back in a genuinely concerned fashion.

During the prime years in Oceanside Barbara’s greatest devotion was to family, food, and love. Her unselfish and loving husband Gerald turned down a lucrative job in Connecticut so Barbara could continue to see her parents Ida and Abe every single day. Abe and Ida also moved to Oceanside, where they were woven into the fabric in our lives, and she cared for them in infirmity and old age.

It was also during these Oceanside years where she hosted and cooked for large family gatherings on our side lawn and we celebrated all of the holidays. She often said, “Religion should be used to bring people together, not keep them apart”, and so love and acceptance was the family rule. At the time of this writing a friend notified us he is sending trays of food for after the funeral gathering in cherished memory of the many Christmas Eves he enjoyed in Oceanside decades ago. Barbara’s devotion to family, food, and love has come to fruition in her greatest wish - that tradition be passed down to her children and grandchildren.

Barbara and Gerald uprooted from beloved Oceanside upon Gerald’s retirement and moved to Walton, NY. This drastic lifestyle change was solely to be around the corner from son Michael, daughter-in-law Denise, and grandchildren Michael and Emmaline. Barbara was in the kitchen or waiting on the porch with afternoon snacks everyday after school and Sunday dinner continued. Family, food, love. As Michael and Emmaline grew, she vowed “I have to see them at least once a month”. They heard the words she uttered most frequently throughout all our lives which has been “I love you and be careful”. Family, Food, Love

Barbara had a very close circle of people she loved and spoke with daily and this includes her brother Lawrence and sister-in-law Leonora Sadler. In these later years Barbara and Gerald lived close to them in Florida. Barbara and Gerald travelled in their retirement years and had a few very close friends but beyond that mom would not go out of her way to socialize. She’d say often, “My husband is my best friend, why would I go out with a bunch of women? I pray I die first, but if he goes first then I’ll think about it.”

Apparently, God did not disagree with her plan and took her from earthly to eternal life. She will be greatly missed by so many people as traditions of Family, Food, Love carry on. Barbara is survived by husband Gerald Charles Coughlin, son Michael Jay Freeman, brother Lawrence Richard Sadler, sister-in-law Lenora (Luchock) Sadler, daughter-in-law Denise (Porterfield) Freeman, and grandchildren Emmaline Ida Freeman, and Michael Abraham Freeman. She is also survived in the hearts of many on earth and upon her release warmly welcomed by her family in Eternity.