Barbara Breckenridge La Heist, a former geologist and cartographer with federal agencies, passed away at home in Chesapeake Beach, MD, on November 1, 2011, after a three-year battle with ovarian cancer.

Barbara Ann Breckenridge was born on February 17, 1938 in Mansfield, Ohio, the daughter of Frank and Edna Breckenridge. Her father, an inventor of washing machines and their parts, was eventually the owner of his own washing machine manufacturing company, and moved the family several times throughout her childhood.

Mrs. La Heist attended Syracuse University from 1956-60, where she met her future husband, Warren Gordon La Heist, in their Freshman English class. While at Syracuse, she was in an honors class with the author Joyce Carol Oates. Mrs. La Heist had intended to major in English, but she was required to take a science course with a lab. She chose geology, and liked it so much she went on to get her BS in geology. She was a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority while at Syracuse University. Also while at the university, she excelled at bowling, where she was an anchor for her team, and she was on the diving and synchronized swimming teams. She knew football star Jim Brown while at Syracuse. She married Warren La Heist on August 29, 1959, just prior to their senior year there.

After getting married and graduating from Syracuse, she and her husband settled in the Washington, D.C. area. She was a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, then in Washington, D.C., from 1960-1964, until her oldest child, Laura La Heist McConnell, was born.

Her second child, Warren G. La Heist, Jr., was born in 1967. Mrs. La Heist was on the board of directors for the first day care center in Silver Spring, MD. While her two children were in elementary and middle school, she attended fine arts classes at Montgomery College in Takoma Park, MD. She later was an editor and layout artist for the newsletter of the Silver Spring YMCA, and then an editor for a medical publisher in Bethesda, MD.

From 1979-1997, she worked as a cartographer for the Defense Mapping Agency (now the National Imagery and Mapping Agency) in Bethesda. By the time of her retirement, she and her husband had moved to Chesapeake Beach. During her retirement, she joined a hand-bell group called Chesapeake Bronze. She also completed training as a Stephen Minister at Friendship United Methodist church, where she and her husband were members. She was active in the South Arundel Women's Club, a local craft group, and a local chapter of the Red Hat Society.

In addition to her husband of 52 years and her two children, she is survived by two brothers, Gail Breckenridge of Louisville, KY, and Frank Lee Breckenridge, of Grand Junction, CO. She is also survived by two grandsons, William John McConnell V (Liam) of Baltimore, MD, and Wyatt Gordon La Heist of Germantown, MD.

A memorial service will be held on December 3, 2011 at Friendship United Methodist Church in Friendship, MD.

Arrangements provided by Rausch Funeral Home.