The family of Barbara Amos has remembered her as “a giver” following the passing of the basketball trailblazer and matriarch on Monday at 78 years of age.
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Amos, who moved to Dubbo in 1967 with her husband Monte, had a huge impact on the Dubbo community as a teacher at St John’s, a swimming and ballroom dancing coach and, most memorably, as a basketball icon.
At times during her long period of running the sport locally she was looking after and helping roughly 400 junior basketballers but that was just one of her duties.
“She was just a giver. A giver of herself and her time,” her daughter Tina said, remembering her mother less than two years after fellow well known local identity Monte passed.
“Dad got to a stage where she just devoted herself to him, didn’t worry about herself,” son Glen added.
The pair added that feeling was further enforced when looking back through family photos, with their mother so often being the one behind the camera, making sure everyone else got the chance to have their photo taken.
Tina said her mother ran Dubbo basketball for “a hell of a lot of years” and her name will long be remembered not only for all her work but also due to the fact the Dubbo Rams basketball club awards the Barbara Amos medal to the clubperson of the year at the end of each season.
Her coaching went from the early days of local basketball at the Dubbo Showground pavilion through to its time at the Royal Theatre, the Police Boy’s Club and then its current home at Dubbo Sportsworld.
Amos was also a big part of the Rams and Ramettes men’s and women’s sides while she was also one of the key players involved when the association started bringing American basketballers out to Dubbo.
All the four children, Stephen, Tina, Glen and Kirk, all played basketball as did Amos’ grandchildren and great grandchildren.
She also spent 45 years teaching at St John’s while taught a huge amount of locals how to swim and helped them get their bronze medallions and compete
“We didn’t win but we were up in the top three,” Glen said of the memorable time he was part of one her side’s competing at Sydney.
Barbara Amos’ funeral will be held at St Brigid’s church at 10am on Friday.