There weren’t many dull moments in Barbara Fligg’s life — if there were any at all.
“She took us on so many adventures,” her daughter Alison Young said, “and I think that was because she wanted her life to be an adventure.”
Full of energy, Fligg was always interested in what was going on with her friends and family.
“It was never about her,” said her daughter, who lives in Marietta. “She just wanted to know what was going on with you.”
Pam Cardinali, a friend of more than 10 years, remembers Fligg the same way.
“She always thought of others first,” Cardinali said. “She was very outgoing and friendly. She was always going, going, going.”
Barbara Grass Fligg of Marietta died Sunday of complications from endometrial cancer, at her home. She was 73. A funeral Mass is planned for 10:30 a.m. Friday at Holy Family Catholic Church, Marietta. Interment is scheduled for noon Monday at Georgia National Cemetery, Canton. H.M. Patterson & Son, Arlington Chapel, is in charge of arrangements.
A native of New York, Fligg came to Atlanta in the early ’70s after her first husband’s job relocated the family. The couple later divorced, but Fligg didn’t let single motherhood slow her down. She decided to enroll at Georgia State University and pursue a college degree. She graduated in 1983 with a degree in English, her daughter said.
“She was feisty and spunky,” Young said of her mother.
Michael Fligg said he knew his wife was a spirited woman, and that is part of what caught his eye. When the couple married 30 years ago, they blended their two families. She warmly embraced his children, as he did hers.
“We shared our children with each other,” he said. “There were many things we shared, actually, including our birthday. But she liked to say I was a year older,” he added with a laugh.
Barbara Fligg’s life was not only filled with her family, but also with the arts. Growing up in New York, she was familiar with museums and the theater. In Atlanta, she enjoyed working with the High Museum of Art as a docent, and she recruited members wherever she went.
“I met her at the gym,” Cardinali said. “That’s where she asked me and another girl if we’d be interested in becoming members of the High Museum.”
Fligg’s time at the High was not just about helping guests experience the museum, but she was learning, too, her daughter said.
“She had a thirst for education,” Young said. “She wanted to see things and do things because she wanted to learn. She didn’t want to stop learning.”
In addition to her husband of 30 years and her daughter, Fligg is survived by a son, Brian Conlon of Alpharetta; another daughter, Pamela Cannon of Cumming; a stepson, Jonathon Fligg of Atlanta; a stepdaughter, Alyson Fligg of Arlington, Va.; sisters, Dolores Maresca of New York and Joan Malossi of Glendale, N.Y.; brother, John Malossi of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and 12 grandchildren.
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