Biography: Whether you wanted to or not, if you met Barbara Harper, there is a better than decent chance you became friends. Whether you were her coworker, shared a Sunday School class, waited on her at a restaurant or were just next to her in a checkout line, she probably started chatting with you like you were old friends, and it may have resulted in a lifelong friendship.
 
There are few things she loved more than her family and friends. Most of her travels were to venture out to see her sister, Debbie and her family, or to see friends. Even when her boys were young, she would stick them in a van and drive across the country (in pre-GPS days) to Wyoming, Colorado, Virginia, Nevada, Texas and more to spend time with everyone. She didn’t make too many wrong turns, but when she did, she always ended up on the right path, eventually.
 
Her expeditions didn’t always stay on the interstate. She loved good stories and new adventures, especially if they involved a waterfall. Many of Barbara’s favorite days were those exploring Arkansas’ trails in the Ozarks and Ouachitas. She even once went camping with her brother, Fred, when bad weather turned into a tornado. Thankfully, they were perfectly fine, just soaked. But they were able to see some awesome waterfalls from all the rain.
 
Barbara’s warm and outgoing nature fed many of her activities, such as performing as a storyteller at Community Bakery, training to become Popcorn the Clown, and eventually to her nearly 20-year career as a teacher. Barbara taught social studies, primarily at Robinson and Bryant High Schools, and took great pride in teaching honest history and civics to her students. She always said she wanted to teach her students to learn to think critically. She was named Teacher of the Year at Bryant in 2009.
 
When she was a teacher at Robinson Jr. High, she was excited to launch a hiking club at Robinson, and regularly led groups of students to explore the most beautiful areas in Arkansas. She loved showing her students new experiences, including chaperoning multiple class trips to Disney World. It was always her goal to make sure all the students, no matter their background, joined in and participated fully.

Barbara loved bright colors and was a huge proponent for the arts. She took her boys to plays at the Arts Center Children’s Theater and later the Arkansas Rep. She always took an opportunity to visit small art galleries and support local artists. She loved to give works of pottery as gifts and her house is filled with brightly colored mugs and wall art and all sorts of knickknacks.
 
Some of her favorite years were spent working at the Arts Center in her 20s. She made many of her lifelong best friends there. Many of them helped her and her husband Sean renovate their first house on Spring Street in the Quapaw Quarter - a project she always talked about fondly. For her 40th birthday party, Barbara requested all her friends come over and paint different things in her bathroom. The bathroom was packed all night with friends and kids making a colorful “tropical bathroom” with palm trees, waves, clouds and all sorts of colorful things.
 
Her other group of best friends were her Bagel Buds. Barbara was part of a group of women who would meet every Saturday morning for several years. They enjoyed bagels and coffee through good times and bad, and of course Barbara would always become friends with the people serving the bagels and coffee.

Being the mother of two boys who loved sports, Doc and JT, Barbara rarely missed any soccer, baseball, and basketball games when the kids were young. Later, when JT was on the Robinson football team, Barbara was always excited to watch those games would travel wherever the Senators were playing to watch. Obviously, she became good friends with the other parents. She also cheered on the Razorbacks, including volunteering in a concession stand with Doc and her brother Bud during the first game at Bud Walton Arena. She was pumped to see them win the national championship later that season.
 
Sean was the love of her life - so much so that she married him twice. She fell in love with him when they were both attending Hall High School and lived around the corner from each other. She built her life with him, starting a family and building her home in Spring Valley in West Little Rock, where she would live for the last nearly 40 years of her life. She and Sean traveled to Europe, New England, the Rocky Mountains and more. They took motorcycle rides through the Arkansas highways, went to flower fields, watched movies, and enjoyed spending time on their deck overlooking the small lake in the backyard.
 
As much as Barbara loved being out with other people, she also loved being at home. She had coffee every day, worked puzzles, and watched old movies and mystery TV shows like Matlock and Perry Mason. But she’d only stay inside so long. She loved her dogs dearly and enjoyed tossing tennis balls to them in the backyard. She would also walk around the neighborhood and make friends with any neighbors she could, and became close to many over the years, including the Dare, Brazzill, Nichols, Tate, Kasel families, and many more.
 
Barbara was a member of Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church and had an accepting, optimistic view of the world. She served in the Caring Network as a Stephen Minister. She went on a mission trip to Honduras that impacted her as much as the people she helped there. She was a joyful, hopeful person who always believed things happen because they’re meant to be. Later in life, after she was tragically diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, she still made every effort to be with her friends and family as much as she could.
 
Barbara is survived by her husband Sean of Little Rock; son Charles “Doc” Harper (Misti) of Garner, North Carolina; son John Thomas Harper (Madeline) of Bentonville; grandchildren Clara, Ethan, and Jackson Harper; siblings Debra Hulsey (Doug) of Little Rock, Walter “Bud” Graupner, Jr (Sarah) of the high seas, and Fred Graupner of Driggs, Idaho; mother-in-law Bunny Harper of Little Rock and brother-in-law David Harper of Little Rock.  She also had numerous beloved cousins, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles.
 
Barbara is preceded in death by her parents, Walter and Dearl Graupner.
 
The family would also like to recognize Gibi Blue for being a phenomenal caregiver for Barbara through her final years. We can’t thank you enough.
 
The family requests that any contributions in Barbara’s memory be made to the Alzheimer’s Association of Arkansas.