To the Editor:

I recently received a letter from former Tryon resident Peggy Bates, who now lives in Brick, N.J. She told me of the passing of her sister, Barbara Ashbaugh, who also formerly lived in Tryon. Peggy wanted me to share this news with others in the Tryon area who might remember Barbara.

Barbara, Peggy and their sister, Ruth Lincoln Kaye of Alexandria, Va., were the daughters of Dr. C.A. Lincoln, former pastor during the 1930s of the Congregational Church of Tryon.

Barbara served overseas with the American Red Cross during World War II, surviving the Battle of the Bulge and being shipwrecked.

She helped to bring home GIs war brides and assisted later in rehabilitating prisoners of war who returned from Japan.

She went on in life to work as a social worker and teacher in Redding, Calif., and to give birth to three sons.

At the time of her death on Dec. 7, 2010, she was 98 years old and living in Redding, Calif.

– Jim Jackson