Barbara Jean Galbraith, a longtime resident of Dayton, Ohio, is the WIM's newest senior missionary called to step into the very big assignment of Mission Travel Secretary in the Trinidad office. She can be reached at wimtravel@gmail.com.
“I have wanted to go on a mission for a long time, but there never seemed to be a right time,” says the retired French teacher and mother of four accomplished offspring. “Then I heard church leaders and others say, ‘Your family will be blessed if you go on a mission.’ Well, my family needs blessings so off I go, I thought, but when . . .? A returned-missionary couple advised me to ‘just pick a date. There will never be a perfect time.’ When my call came to the West Indies Mission, it exactly fit my availability date of October 17th! Then, President Gamiette asked me to come in mid-August instead, so I re-shuffled things and here I am.”
A lifetime member of the church, blessed to be descended from pioneers who crossed the plains, Sister Galbraith notes, “My testimony has always been a part of me, but I believe it took root during my 8 formative years spent growing up near Paris, France where we attended the Paris Branch, among members and missionaries who set a marvelous example of strength in the gospel.”
Sister Galbraith has served most in the Primary and Relief Society, but her favorite – and most challenging - calling in the Church was teaching seminary for 3 years. Most recently, she served as Ward Music Chairman where she gained an appreciation for the hours and hours members invest in preparing a musical number for Sacrament meeting.
A native of Washington DC, Sister Galbraith lived in Germany and France as a child, and in the Salt Lake Valley and southern California while raising her family. She has a BA and MA in French and a teaching degree from the University of Utah, but chose to be a Home Mom for the first 22 years of her married life. When her children were grown, she accepted a teaching position at Wright State University in Dayton where she taught French for 22 years, including organizing a study abroad program so she could take her students “home” to France.
The new travel secretary adds, “the best part of my story really is my grandchildren! They range in age from 2 to 9 1/2. Leaving them is the only thing about my mission I consider a ‘sacrifice’."
Welcome to the WIM, Sister Galbraith!
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