BARBARA RAE SPRINGER, 70, of State College, died Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009, at Mount Nittany Medical Center. Born Nov. 28, 1939, in Altoona, she was a daughter of the late Raymond and Regina Ivory Higgins. She married William Springer, who died April 28, 2007.

She was a 1960 graduate of St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing in Pittsburgh. In 1964, she received a B.S. in public health nursing from Duquesne University. Over the years, she worked in and instructed for several hospitals and colleges. She was a school nurse at Centre County Vocational School in Pleasant Gap until her retirement.

She is survived by her daughter, Deborah McWhirter and her husband, Mark, of Westport, Conn.; a son, Eric Warren, of Pittsburgh; two granddaughters, Morgan and Erin McWhirter; and two brothers, Ronald Higgins and his wife, Joan, of Kingsville, Md., and Gerald Higgins, of Pittsburgh. I n addition to her husband and parents, she was predeceased by her sister, Jeanne Hand.

A memorial service will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 18, 2009, at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church, 820 Westerly Parkway, State College. Burial will be with her husband in Arlington National Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, please send memorial contributions to Ovarian Cancer Research, 14 Pennsylvania Plaza, Suite 1400, New York, NY 10122. Arrangements are under the care of Koch Funeral Home, State College.