LOEB, Barbara Keely A precocious child, Barbara Keely Loeb appeared at truancy court as an elementary student. The head librarian at the Philadelphia Free Library, where Barbara read instead of going to class, testified in her defense. "She was always an avid reader," said Barbara's youngest sister, Carol Esterhai. Barbara's love of learning never diminished. She graduated from Girls High in Philadelphia and attended Penn State and earned a bachelor's degree at Temple University before earning her master's and Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Montana. Her internship at the V.A. brought her and her husband of 43 years, Louis Stern Loeb, and four children, Andy, Debby, Jennifer, and Julie, to Oregon. Later, she served as a psychologist at Good Shepherd Home and Kaiser Permanente and finally entered into private practice in Hillsboro. Barbara was always interested in improving her Spanish. "I used to sit outside the tub and help her study Spanish and she would sit outside the tub and help me study French" said Gail Trautwein, Barbara's younger sister. Barbara, 67, continued learning throughout her life and attended language schools in Guatemala and Mexico. She sought adventure with her second passion, travel, going on safari in Africa, scuba diving in the Bahamas, backpacking through Nepal and strolling through the canopies of the Amazon rainforest. Barbara traveled often to Mexico. From her travels, Barbara saw the need to take individual responsibility for global issues. She and Lou sponsored Tibetans who were escaping Chinese domination and she wrote letters for Amnesty International. Growing up in Pennsylvania with her sisters, Barbara developed a fondness for the outdoors and animals. She raised horses and dogs, and later became an American Kennel Club judge. She and her sisters spent much of their day outside sledding, playing marbles and mumbley pegs, and jumping off a barn roof into the manure pile. Barbara attended Phillies' games with her father and caught her father's contagious enthusiasm for sports, especially football, which she shared with her children and 12 grandchildren. She regularly attended University of Oregon football games. After the extremely noisy game against Michigan, "She couldn't talk for a week," said her daughter Julie. Barbara, who was asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis, lost her 6-month struggle with the metastatic disease. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 23 at the Glen and Viola Walters Cultural Center. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the American Cancer Society. Published in The Oregonian on 6/23/2007.