Barbara Esther Asnes

FREEPORT – Barbara Esther Asnes died at home at the age of 73 on Feb. 26, 2026, from acute respiratory failure. She had been in declining health for months.

Barbara was born in Boston, Mass. to Harold and Ray (Green) Asnes on June 21, 1952, and grew up in Newton Highlands, Mass.

Her friends have described her as “sharp-witted, courageous, funny, self-aware, aware of the world, and so very kind and generous,” and noted her love of animals and her “unmatched kindness, generosity of spirit.”

Barbara graduated from Clark University, earned a University of Chicago Master of Social Work (MSW) degree and a JD from Vermont Law School, but never practiced. Most of her varied career was devoted to working with people with major mental illness or developmental disabilities, and assuring compliance with related federal court orders in North Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont and Maine. She also started her own successful full-service catering business in Vermont, serving as many as 900 people. In North Carolina, she testified as an expert defense witness during the sentencing phase of several death penalty cases.

A 2007 collision with a logging truck in Maine broke all the bones in both her feet and ankles. It took five months of surgeries, recovery and physical therapy before she could even begin to walk again. She spent the rest of her life on crutches and in chronic pain but rarely complained. Two years later, she worked as an Alzheimer’s Association care consultant and retired after a year.

Barbara loved gardens and travel, visiting all over Canada, England, Western Europe and New Zealand. Barbara was devoted to dogs and cats her whole life. During retirement, she drove hundreds of miles to deliver rescued feral cats to their new homes.

She is survived by her devoted husband of 42 years, Stuart Bratesman; and her cousin, Bill Asnes of Texas.

An informal memorial gathering of friends will be held at Barbara and Stuart’s home in June.