Obituary of Barbara Lynn Howard
Barbara Howard, 87, of Gladstone, N.J., passed away on Sunday, September 7, 2025, peacefully at home with her family by her side. She was the daughter of Robert MacKinney and Esther MacKinney of Highland Park, N.J. A lifelong equestrian, accomplished artist, and local story-teller, she was much loved by her family and friends.
Introduced to horses at an early age, Barbara enjoyed much success as a child and teen in the show ring, including competing in the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden. As an adult, she rode in the first Essex Horse Trials and pursued a decades long passion riding to hounds. She relished her days’ hunting, particularly when encouraging and mentoring those new to the sport.
An accomplished sporting artist, Barbara did commissioned pastels of prominent race horses for successful owners and trainers at Belmont Park, Aqueduct, Saratoga, and many other thoroughbred tracks; she also did pastels of favorite horses for jockeys, grooms, and exercise riders. Barbara was versatile in her artwork, painting scenes of foxhunting, carriage horses, and dressage, as well as portraits of people with their pets and children. As a popular artist, she excelled at unique composition and capturing the personality, emotion, and connection of people with their animals. She found much satisfaction giving people joy through her personalized artwork.
In addition to her lifelong passion of horses and art, Barbara loved being with people, having fun, and evoking a laugh. She was a familiar presence around town, cycling to her favorite coffee shop every morning in her camouflage and flower covered helmet. At parties, Barbara was the first on the dance floor – and often the last. Whether in the hunting field, at her favorite coffee shop, or in everyday life, she set out through her antics, stories, and sense of humor to make people laugh and enjoy life more fully; for this we are most grateful. She memorialized special times with her story-telling, candid photographs, artwork, and poems. She loved to write limericks of her adventures with horses and hounds, family and friends, and often her artwork was accompanied by a humorous one.
Throughout her life she considered herself wonderfully fortunate for her childhood, horses, family, and many friends. Her family admired her ability to have fun and enjoy life no matter the circumstances. Among her final words were, “I love you” and “Life is good.”
Barbara is survived by three daughters (as she humorously says – "that she knows of”) Jean Gilbert, Karen Rogers, and Ali Carter, her sister Cathy Morelli, her brother Robert MacKinney IV, two sons-in-law, six grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and seven nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that gifts in Barbara Howard’s memory be donated to the Tewksbury Foot Bassets P.O. Box 132 Oldwick, NJ 08858-0132 and/or the Peapack-Gladstone Fire Department 6 Dewey Avenue Gladstone, N.J. 07934.
