Barbara Ann (Cook) Richards

CAPE CORAL, Fla. – Barbara Ann Cook Richards, 96, formally of Cape Elizabeth and Buxton, Maine, passed away on Sept. 7, 2025.

Born on April 6, 1929, in Woodland, she was the daughter of Dr. Bion Pike Cook and Marguerite MacIninch Cook. She graduated from St. Croix High School in 1946 and from the New England Deaconess School of Nursing in Boston in 1950. On July 14, 1951, Barbara married Ralph L. Richards of Princeton, with whom she shared 66 years of marriage. Together, they raised two sons, Bion and Scott.

A dedicated Registered Nurse, Barbara worked for many years with the Visiting Nurse Association in South Portland. She was a former member of the Buxton Garden Club, the University of Maine Extension and a Cub Scout den mother.

Barbara and Ralph found joy traveling in their truck camper throughout the U.S. She always looked forward to summers on Big Lake near Princeton where her love of the outdoors shone through. Winter was filled with hopes of lots of snow for deep woods snowmobiling at Big Lake and beyond on her Arctic Cat.

Barbara was filled with creative energy; sewing patchwork quilts for family members, flower and vegetable gardening and working with stained glass. She picked raspberries, strawberries and blueberries from the family garden to make delicious jam preserves. Her greeting cards were often her own photographs of flowers. Barbara was one of the first to request “oil on the side” for her small Italian sandwich for boat trips on Casco Bay in the family’s 1955 Lyman outboard. She enjoyed birding especially watching migratory species.

Barbara cherished her bond with her sisters-in-law as well as the many close friendships she developed over the course of her lifetime from growing up in Woodland through her later years in South Portland.

Barbara was predeceased by her beloved husband, Ralph, in 2017.

She is survived by her son, Bion and his wife Muriel of Rockport, and her son, Scott and his wife Pamela of Venice, Fla. She also leaves behind her grandchildren, Wes and his wife Abigail of Waltham, Mass., and Elle and her husband Jesse of Bokeelia, Fla.; several nieces and nephews; and her sisters-in-law Rita Furbish and Norma Richards.

To honor Barbara’s wishes, a private committal with immediate family will be held at Riverside Memorial Cemetery, in Cape Elizabeth.

Arrangements made by National Cremation and Burial Society.