Barbara Ann Middaugh was born December 30, 1939 to Paul L. Middaugh and Ola Meta (Stockwell) Middaugh in Chillicothe, Missouri. Barbara graduated from Washington High School in Kansas City, Kansas in May 1958. On September 14, 1963, Barbara and John M. Gaffney, Jr. were united in marriage in Lawrence, Kansas. To this union, two children were born, a daughter, Jonna, and a son, Johnny.

Barbara attended Kansas State University and the University of Kansas, completing a Bachelors Degree in Education, and earned a Masters Degree in Child Psychology at Wichita State University. Barbara taught in Kansas City, Lawrence, the South Central Kansas Special Education Cooperative, and Attica, from which she retired in 2002.

Barbara was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Kansa Association of Retired School Personnel.

On October 28, 2020, Barbara passed away at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis in Wichita, Kansas. She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, her younger brother Randall Middaugh, and her grandson Gabriel Gaffney. She is survived by her daughter Jonna, her son Johnny, her granddaughter Mackenzie, and her grandson Jack.

The family plans a private burial service. Memorials in memory of Barbara may be made to Heartland Hospice and sent in care of Prairie Rose Funeral Home, 602 E. Main St., Anthony, KS 67003.