Barbara Foster Cobb

Barbara Foster Cobb, a former resident of Boynton, McAlester and Tulsa died January 16, 2016 in the intensive care unit of Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia after months of hospital stays. Born April 26, 1937 near Council Hill, Oklahoma to parents, John and Mae Foster. Barbara graduated from Boynton High School with the class of 1955. She attended Oklahoma A&M College, now Oklahoma State University, majoring in Home Economics and Education. This led to the assignment as assistant home demonstration agent with the federal extension service for Pittsburg County based in McAlester working with 4-H girls and boys and farm families. Barbara married Bob Cobb of McAlester, the former sports editor of the News-Capital, on February 17, 1962. They moved to Tulsa where Bob worked as outdoor editor of the Tulsa Tribune and Public Relations Director for the Zebco Fishing Tackle manufacturer. In January 1969, the Cobb family with daughter Leslie, age 4, and son Brett, age 2, left Oklahoma to chase a “bass fishing dream”. They dropped anchor in Montgomery, Alabama and dove into the unknown waters of a fishing organization named B.A.S.S. (Bass Anglers Sportsman Society). Cobb took the helm of the start-up BASSMASTER Magazine and immediately appointed Barbara as the “Art Director”. Her talents succeeded in creating and designing layouts of the magazine’s pages, working on the Cobb’s kitchen table. B.A.S.S., under founder Ray Scott, grew from a meager 2,000 members to a worldwide audience of 750,000. BASSMASTER Magazine chronicled the bass-catching secrets of anglers on the B.A.S.S. Tournament Trail and earned the reputation as the “Bible of Bass Fishing.” Fisherman soon had their own dreams of finding “gold in them thar gills.” Bass fishing tournaments caught fire, Bass clubs spawned across the USA, and a Tournament Trail season-ending championship was born known as the BASS Masters Classic that became the “Super Bowl of Bass Fishing”. In 1986, Texas angler Rick Clunn won the Classic with a record-setting catch before a standing room only crowd in the Pine Bluff Arkansas arena. On stage with Clunn and weigh-master Ray Scott, were two future Presidents of the United States. Then Vice President George H. Bush and Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. Such were the story lines so strong, BASSMASTER Magazine and the Tournament Trail evolved into the long running BASSMASTERS TV series on The Nashville Network. Actually, a bass fishing industry was spawned from Barbara Cobb’s kitchen table. It was Barbara working behind the scenes: from early design of the magazine, to logging video tapes, charting key tournament weigh-in highlights, assisting the video crews and hosting Classic angler’s wives, all the while raising two children. Barbara’s thumbprints are all over the back-story of the successful history of the B.A.S.S organization. As a devoted, loving mother and wife, Barbara is remembered for her dedication to her family; her willingness to set aside her own career to pursue a husband’s dream; and her drive to teach her children life’s path and how to navigate it. Barbara is survived by her husband, Bob Cobb of Montgomery, Alabama, her daughter, Leslie Cobb and her son, Brett Foster Cobb of Atlanta, her two grandchildren, Keller Ann Donnell and Taylor Cobb Donnell of Atlanta, her sister Nellie Foster Phillips and husband Riley Phillips of Irving, Texas, her close cousins, Shirley Bacon of Muskogee, Sheila Brown of Tulsa, and Carolyn Foster of Dallas, and her nieces and nephews: Neal Phillips and Lori Phillips Stephens of Dallas, Steve Bacon, and Carol McQueen of Muskogee, David Bacon, Kathy Wilson and Pam Metcalf of Tulsa, Cheryl Burks Beeler and Valerie Burks Shimp of McAlester, John Burks, Jr. of Coupeville, Washington and Bob Burks of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Funeral services honoring Barbara’s life will be 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, January 26, 2016 at Memorial Park Cemetery Mausoleum in Muskogee. Funeral services are under the direction of Cornerstone Funeral Home, 1830 N. York Street, Muskogee, OK. Condolences may be made to the family online at www.cornerstoneofmuskogee.com.

Barbara Foster Cobb

April 26, 1937 - January 16, 2016