Professor emeritus James Harrison BABB of San Luis Obispo died Tuesday, Jan. 23, 1990, at his residence. He was 79. Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Reis Chapel in San Luis Obispo. The Rev. Deane Keller of Grace Church in San Luis Obispo will officiate. Burial will follow at Los Osos Valley Memorial Park. Mr. Babb was born July 5, 1920, in Macomb, MO. He moved to Exeter in 1929, at the age of nine. He graduated from Exeter High School.
He was in the Navy from 1942 to 1946 and served as a torpedo man mate in the South Pacific. He married Barbara Tenycke June 7, 1946. During the 1950s, the young couple were missionaries to the Tully Indian Reservation in the San Joaquin Valley. They founded the Visalia Printing Company in 1953 and sold it in 1959. They moved to San Luis Obispo in 1959. Mr. Babb was a professor at Cal Poly for 23 years, teaching printing in the Graphic Communications Department from 1959 to 1982. He was an active member of the Bethel Baptist Church of Grover City, serving as deacon and Sunday school teacher. He was also a member of Gideons and the Civil Air Patrol of San Luis Obispo. He enjoyed woodworking.
Mr. Babb is survived by two sons, James M. Babb of San Luis Obispo and Michael R. Babb of Arroyo Grande; three daughters, Vicki L. Smith and Carol L. Anderson, both of Portland, OR., and Kathy I. Curnow of Vancouver, WA.; two brothers, Harry T. Babb of Tulare and Fred Miller of San Diego; three sisters, Lois McLaughlin of Visalia, Eunice Wilshire of Exeter and Juanita Flint of Auburn; his mother Susan Babb of Visalia; 13 grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Contributions may be made to Gideons Memorial Bible, P. O. Box 578, San Luis Obispo, CA. 93406. Arrangements are by Reis Chapel in San Luis Obispo.
Telegram Tribune, November 26, 1990
Contributed by: Shelli Steedman