Barbara Elaine Rapstein

A native Texan, Barbara, 66, grew up surrounded by birds and nature in the Columbia Bottomlands. She was born as the first child to Kirby Rapstein Sr., and Lou Edith Riggs Rapstein on November 19th, 1958, in Freeport, Texas. She grew up in Wild Peach, Texas, and attended and graduated from high school in West Columbia, Texas, at Columbia High School and later earned degrees from both Texas A&M and University of Texas.

Barbara is survived by her husband of 31 years, Ron Ryon and their two beloved dogs -Tyga the wonder dog -her guardian angel and constant companion, and Jake the Brittany Spaniel, her younger brother Kirby Rapstein Jr., and younger sister Elizabeth Rapstein. She also survived by the large and loving Hall-Rapstein family in Missouri including Chip & Linda Hall, Randy Hall and the Hall twins Cindy & Tina. Tyga found Barbara while he was lost one day and the two instantly bonded. She often said that she thought her late father Kirby had sent Tyga to her as a guardian angel after his passing in 2021, the day before Barbara’s birthday.

Barbara and her siblings are all descended of the original settlers of Texas on their mother’s side being traced back to Rebecca Cummings who was engaged to William Barret Travis when he died as temporary commander of the Alamo. Many of Barbara’s ancestors served in the military for many wars including her great uncle Albert, who survived the Manila Death March, her father Kirby who volunteered for the Korean War and her brother Kirby served in the US Air Force. Barbara lived her life with equal conviction pouring every fiber of her being into birding, teaching the developmentally challenged in Texas City, helping others and most importantly, her time as a bird and wildlife tour guide for the King Ranch -her most cherished times. 

Barbara was very talented and very active in primary school through college participating in many outlets including serving as an acolyte at her home church of St. Mary’s Episcopal church in West Columbia. Playing in the school bands first as a flutist and later bassoonist and eventually became a flag girl at Columbia High School and Lamar University where she began her college years before transferring to Texas A&M. She was especially exceptional in theater where she won many parts in school plays, sometimes sewing her own costumes. She was also in the Belle of the Brazos beauty pageant and parade in West Columbia sewing her own historically relevant ball gown that she wore in the parade. Barbara and all of her immediate family were also exceptionally gifted as artists, illustrators and designers and musicians which run in the family. The Rapstein family also took up sailing and Barabara was on the Texas A&M sailing team, where she participated as a crew member for the famous Harvest Moon Regatta racing for 36 hours straight over night to the finish point in Port Aransas.

Barbara’s immediate and ancestral families across generations, all shared a love for the Texas beach and coastal areas. This love of Texas coastal areas would later transform into her love of birding, conservation and educational efforts which stemmed from her father, Kirby Rapstein,and his own wildlife restoration, conservation and education efforts.

Before her birding career began, and during her time in college she worked at Dow Chemical with her father, Kirby, who was a chemist and would later go on to work on the publishing staff at The University of Texas. After she graduated from UT, she began her career in advertising working for Felix Rhymes at the agency Large Rhymes, and other advertising agencies.

When Barbara and her husband moved to Galveston Bay, she got her Teacher’s Certificate and taught the underprivileged and the developmentally challenged, another natural gift of Barbara’s -helping others and inspiring all ages to achieve more and be happier. During this time, her involvement with the Galveston Audobon proved that Barbara was a gifted birder and her involvement with the organization soon blossomed into her position as Secretary. As a result, Barbara and her longtime birding partners, Elouise Lawrence and Trudy Belz bird rehabilitator, made the discovery of a rarely sighted pink flamingo on the Texas City Dike, later named, “Pinkie,” which became a birding world sensation leading to the sighting being published in Houston and Galveston newspapers with news spreading quickly across the US, bringing in thousands of birders from all over to see Pinkie the flamingo at the Texas City Dike for over two weeks.

Barbara “officially” began birding 30+ years ago while living on west Galveston Bay not far from critical rookery islands. Birds in trouble frequently crossed her path, which led to a great deal of time volunteering with the local wildlife rehabber. Two years later she made her first Galveston Christmas Bird Count (CBC), a long-held tradition, and was hooked on birds after locating groove-billed ani’s on the shoreline of Galveston Bay. From there she quickly took on as many volunteer opportunities as she could manage—CBC’s, surveys, rookery monitoring, colonial waterbird counts, HawkWatch, FeatherFest, field trip leader, a founding member and officer of Galveston County Audubon and all-round promoter of birding and conservation through her own handcrafted educational booths. In 2010, a move south to Baffin Bay, led to new volunteer opportunities with other Audubon’s, CBC’s, BBS’s, birding classes, and nature tour guiding for King Ranch since 2011. She also made many birding trips with her beloved friends and family, including birding across the US, Central and South America on the Amazon River. Ever a believer we will save only what we love, Barbara’s wish was to nourish the love of nature in others.

Barbara had a tough fight with very aggressive breast cancer starting in 2019 and went through 6 months of cancer treatment but returned to work tirelessly and sprang back to life for four more years until her cancer returned in late 2024, which she succumbed to.

The family will receive condolences from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, January 23, 2025, at Turcotte-Piper Mortuary; with refreshments and finger foods.  A chapel service will begin at 12:00 p.m.; followed by words of reflections open to guests until 1:30 p.m. Interment will follow at Chamberlain Cemetery (2 miles west of the funeral home) weather permitting.

To honor Barbara’s memory, her husband Ron asks that you take the time to enjoy nature in your day and to stop what you’re doing, grab some binoculars and spend a moment with the feathered world.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Barbara’s name to any of the following organizations of which she was a member:

- Coastal Bend Audobon - https://www.coastalbendaudubon.org/

- Audobon Outdoor Club - https://www.audubonoutdoorclub.com/

- Houston Audobon - https://houstonaudubon.org/