Barbara passed on to the arms of angels May 9, 2024, following what she described as a great life with family, friends, her work, sailing and travel, interrupted by Multiple Myeloma. She passed peacefully in her home in Hilton Head Island, SC, without pain, after a one-week decline.

Barbara was born in 1932 and grew up in Flint, MI. She attended Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills, MI and graduated from the University of Michigan with degrees in political science and secondary education. Following her education and marriage in 1954 to William Caley Hubbard, she taught 6th grade in Ann Arbor, MI while he finished medical school.

After being stationed by the Air Force in England for 2 years, they and their young son Billmoved to Detroit where she pursued real estate for 3 years in Lafayette Park, a new urban renewal townhouse community.

The family returned to Flint and Barbara enjoyed managing her husband Caley’s ophthalmology office for the next 10 years, before Caley passed from a heart attack, unexpectedly at 39. Following, she managed the 1970 decennial census for Genesee, Bay and Saginaw Countiesbefore moving to Ann Arbor, MI and working for the Commission on Physician and Hospital Activities (CPHA), which was early in determining and computerizing hospital and physician quality care outcomes of hospitalized patients. She spent her last 10 years of employment working as a U.S. Senate staff member on health issues and managing the 6 Michigan offices for Senator Donald W. Reigle. During that time, she met her second husband, Dr. Robert Coye, deceased in 2004.

Barbara retired from the Senate staff in 1984 to help family with care for her father, Robert M. Wagner, who had a terminal illness. Her father’s wish was to end life in his nearby home which resulted in a clearer understanding of home care issues and the needs of the elderly.

In 1987 she and her husband Bob retired north, building their retirement home, Frog Hollow in Suttons Bay, MI. In 1991, using her health care experiences for the elderly, she and Bob developed the initial plan for ShareCare of Leelanau County and led a group of local seniors to develop the non-profit that continues today, helping seniors remain safely in their own homes as they age.

While in Flint, Barb joined her mother’s PEO Chapter AY, and later PEO in the Suttons Bay / Traverse City MI area, which she greatly enjoyed throughout all her life. However, Barbara’s family were dearest to her heart. She greatly enjoyed the many family gatherings, to include her son, William Wagner Hubbard (Lynda) residing in South Carolina, His two sons, and families,William Caley Hubbard Peters (Emily), and Nicholas Vette Hubbard Peters MD (Gabrella, MD) and her great-grandchildren, Carter, Chloe, Bennett and Raina. Her sister Nancy Wagner Stewart(Samuel S), and their two children, Heather Williams (Bruce) and Jonathan (Kelly) and their children, Samual, Sydney, and Jordan, all visited often and lived nearby.

Barbara’s step-children included Molly Coye MD, Peter Coye (Pat) and Carol Coye Benson and their families who visited frequently from the west coast. Step-grandchildren included Rebecca Martin (John Donoghue), Lilly Coye (Michael Seitz), Langston Smith and Nicholas Benson; and five step-great grandchildren.

Throughout life Barbara cherished sailing, from learning as a child at the Crystal Lake Yacht Club, to spending 20 Summers aboard she and Bob’s boat ‘Pegasus’ in the North Channel, and onboard Bob’s two hand-constructed ‘catboats’.

A family gathering will be planned for this Summer in the Traverse City, MI area.

In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to Interlochen Center for the Arts at www. interlochen.org . Please select “Dedicate my donation in honor or memory of Barbara Wagner Hubbard Coye” which will be added to the Robert M. and Lenore Wagner endowment.