Barbara Davenport

Barbara Davenport. . , Barbara Davenport was born in 1934 in Long Beach, California. Her father was the Long Beach Director of Recreation, and she grew up on athletic courts, football and track fields, baseball diamonds, and playgrounds. Her favorite place to be, though, was the beach., Barb married Bob Davenport in 1953 while they were both students at UCLA, where they had their first two children, Dani and Dane. They settled in Upland, Indiana in 1959, where Bob became the football coach at Taylor University., It took a lifetime for Barb to get accustomed to a small town and long, cold winters. She was especially disappointed to learn early on that March didn't bring beautiful weather. However, in time, she felt that God wanted her in Upland, and she worked to make it her home., Barb had a profound impact on her community. She was instrumental in having kindergarten added to the Eastbrook School District, and she made sure that the elementary schools had playgrounds. She coordinated and coached local summer softball leagues for girls. She started a summer day camp called Fun in the Sun, which combined Barb's two favorite things: playing games and learning about Jesus. If Barb saw a need in the community, she worked to fill it. She even talked the local grocery store into selling taco shells, something she missed from her days in California., Barb was active in Upland's Helping Hand ministry and was a board member for the Pregnancy Help Center. She was also a member of Upland Community Church. She worked with elementary kids through the Kids Hope organization., Barb served as a team leader for several cross-country and overseas bicycle trips through Wandering Wheels, an organization she founded with Bob Davenport in 1966. Barb absolutely loved to travel, going all over the world and usually leading groups of students or bikers. Her favorite travelers, though, were her grandchildren, who she treated to a "Grandma trip when each of them turned 10. She took her grandchildren all over the country, visiting Disney World, Legoland, Hershey Park, the San Diego Zoo, New York City, and Niagara Falls., Barb's relationship with Jesus guided her entire life. In the early 1960s, she started a women's prayer group at Taylor that met on Thursdays and prayed for Taylor faculty and staff. This prayer group still meets, and Barb personally credited a lot of what God has done at Taylor University to the work of the Thursday morning group., Barb grew to love the Taylor community as if she had been here all her life. She finished her undergraduate degree at Taylor, graduating in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She went on to get her Master of Arts degree from Ball State, graduating in 1989. After graduating, Barb worked at Anderson University as an assistant registrar. In 1993, she was hired as the registrar at Taylor University. In 1998, she moved into a program at Taylor called AIM, an academic intensive module that worked with at-risk students. She retired from Taylor in 2004. After her parents passed away, she established a football scholarship in her parent's name., Barb passed away in December 2021. She is loved and missed by her children, Dani, Dane, Daphne, and Dawn, as well as 14 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.