CAMDEN — Barbara E. Biltz Putnam, 90, died peacefully, Saturday, November 14, 2020 at Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport.

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio May 8, 1930, she was the daughter of Carl and Frances Hornung Biltz. Educated in Cincinnati, Barbara met her future husband, Thomas Putnam, in the second grade. Following high school, she
attended the University of Cincinnati where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree, and went on to teach Kindergarten.

On August 22, 1953, Barbara married the love of her life, Thomas Clark Putnam, while he was in medical school in Cincinnati, Ohio. Barbara moved with Tom as he pursued his pediatric medical and surgical training in Cleveland, Ohio, Denver, Colorado, and Boston, Massachusetts.

They ultimately settled with their family in Pittsford, New York, where Barbara was involved as a homemaker and mother as well as in many community endeavors, most notably the American Red Cross, the League of Women Voters, and the AAUW.

In 1996, the Putnams moved to Rockland and in 2014 to Camden where Barbara has continued to reside since Tom’s passing in 2018.

She was an active member of Bay Chamber Concerts, Camden Opera House, Rockland Public Library Endowment Association, the Midcoast Forum on Foreign Relations and the Pen Bay Medical Center Osprey Club. She enjoyed volunteering at the Book Stop in the Rockland Library and the Olson House in Cushing.

With her husband, Barbara enjoyed extensive travel both in the United States and abroad. She was an enthusiastic follower of politics and an avid reader.

Barbara is survived by her children, Tracy Putnam and his wife Nina Strnad of Lake Forest, Illinois, and Elizabeth Putnam Belden and her husband Douglas of Cranford, New Jersey; her grandchildren, Laura Belden and her husband Evan Bilheimer, Thomas Belden, Sarah Belden, Nicholas Putnam, Samuel Putnam and his wife Emily; her brother, Carl Biltz and his wife Diann of McMinnville, Oregon; her sister-in-law, Patricia Putnam Benacquista of Fairfield, California; as well three nephews.

A private family service will be planned in the future.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Rockland Public Library Endowment Association (R-PLEA), P. O. Box 18, Rockland, ME 04841; or St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 11 White Street, Rockland, ME 04841.

To share a memory or story with Barbara’s family, please visit their online Book of Memories at www.bchfh.com.

Arrangements are in the care of Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, Rockland.