Obituary: Barbara Tognelli Klein, 1954-2025

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Barbara Tognelli Klein on December 7, 2025.

Barbara was born January 18, 1954, in São Paulo, Brazil, at the exact moment of the solar eclipse. The midwife said to her mother, “Your child will have eyes for a different world.” And Barbara did! At 18 months old, she told her mom that the family would move north. When her father, Carlo, came home that evening, he said he had been transferred to Canada. She also predicted that her brother, Sergio, would be born even before her mother knew she was pregnant.

The Tognelli family came to America through Chicago, then New Jersey, and then to IBM in Essex Junction, Vt., where her dad worked. They made Burlington, Vt., their home.

Barb’s desire to become a nurse started at age 9 when the family was traveling back to the U.S. from Italy on the SS Constitution. They were in the eye of a hurricane when the recreation department made small nurse’s hats for the little girls to wear. At the end of that evening Barb told her parents that she wasn’t going to be an interpreter, she was going to be a nurse, and that was her lifetime career.

Barbara graduated from Burlington High School in 1971, Fanny Allen School of Nursing in 1973 and Champlain College in 1978 with an AS degree. She started working at Birchwood Terrace Nursing Home two days before Thanksgiving 1975. She completed 50 years at Birchwood Terrace. She created a special garden for the Alzheimer’s residents and won a national award for going above and beyond her nursing duties. There is a commemorative plaque and bench in the Memory Garden at Birchwood in Barb’s honor.

She met her husband, Ron Klein, through a group called Single Vermonters. They met in January 1989 and were married in December 1989. In their 37 years of marriage, they enjoyed traveling, gardening and summer days at their camp on Lake Carmi. Ron was a devoted caregiver to Barb through her final illness.

Barbara was predeceased by her parents, Carlo and Carmen Tognelli; her only brother, Sergio; her “friend of the heart,” Nello; and several close friends, including Simone, Margaret, Marylou and Kathy, who were all near and dear to her heart.

She leaves behind her husband, Ron Klein; a sister-in-law, Anne Tognelli; a nephew, Anthony Tognelli and family; and a niece, Jessica Tognelli Provost and family. She also acknowledges a group of nieces and nephews and a few in-laws in Iowa. Barbara was surrounded by a loving group of friends she trusted: Mel, Maureen, Sheryl, Judy, Kerry and Marcella. They offered her comfort and support throughout her final ordeal. They were like sisters to her.

Barb was a Catholic and made several religious pilgrimages over the years to Lourdes, Medjugorje, Padre Pio, St. Francis, St. Bernadette, St. Anthony and many more. She had a natural gift of psychic ability and used these talents to help many people.

Today in Gavinana, Italy, the bells will toll for Barbara as she crosses over and is going home to be reunited with her loved ones.

There will be a wake on Thursday, December 11, at LaVigne Funeral Home, 132 Main Street, Winooski, from 5 to 7 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday, December 12, at 1 p.m. at Holy Cross Church in Malletts Bay, with burial to follow in Holy Cross Cemetery. A reception will follow at the church hall. For anyone who desires to make a charitable contribution in Barb’s name, she requested the Alzheimer’s Memory Garden at Birchwood Terrace Rehab and Healthcare, 43 Starr Farm Rd., Burlington, VT 05408.

This article appears in Dec 10-16 2025.