Gena-Vera Pearl McQuiston Niblack

March 22, 1914 - June 7, 2017

Gena-Vera Pearl McQuiston Niblack passed away in her sleep on June 7th, 2017. Born in 1914, she lived most of her young years in Kansas, where her father was a circuit-riding Methodist minister, a blacksmith, and later a farmer. Her mother played on the girls'basketball team, was valedictorian of her country school, taught Sunday School, baked biscuits to eke out the family income, and, during the Great Depression, never refused a stranger at her door looking to trade work for food. At age 19, after her mother died, Gena-Vera left Kansas to seek the free higher education California then offered. In Los Angeles she met and married Herman McClure Niblack, of Wheatland, Indiana. They moved to Glendale, where Herman ran the Verado Market, and she became a teacher and psychometrist for the Glendale Unified School District. To the end of her life she loved to learn, attending Kavli Institute lectures when she was over 100. She loved the beauty of the mountains, the desert, the oceans, and the National Parks, and enjoyed discovering the world through travel to over 50 countries. She lived a life of service. After moving to Santa Barbara nearly 30 years ago she volunteered at Direct Relief, PEO, and at her church until the day she was hospitalized for a fall. She loved music. One of her happiest memories was coming downstairs on her 6th birthday to find a 3/4 size violin waiting for her on the family piano. She learned to read music before she learned to read words. She loved God. In her last days she prayed for blessing on our world, saying it could be so beautiful if only we would follow Jesus'simple teaching: "Love one another." Her friends and family remember her as an inspiration. And she loved and took great pleasure in her family. She will be missed by her daughter, Diane Niblack Fox, her grandchildren Rachel Elizabeth Fox and Christopher Niblack Fox, their spouses Christophe Penot and Laura Lyman Fox, and her great-grandchildren, Jonah, Oliver, and Cornelia Fox, and Roscoe and Jim Penot, as well as by nieces and nephews and many others who knew her. A memorial service will be held on June 26, 2017, at 11 am at the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Barbara. In lieu of flowers, donations in her name may be sent to Direct Relief.