Barbara Marlene (Cropsey) Daly

August 27, 1934-November 5, 2025

Barbara Marlene (Cropsey) Daly, 91, of Basin, WY, passed away on November 5, 2025, in Scottsdale, Arizona, with family by her side. Services are planned for Saturday, September 26, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. at

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Basin, Wyoming. All family and friends are invited to the celebration of her life.

Barbara was born on August 27, 1934, to Hazel Isabell (Kimbro) Cropsey and Jesse “Budd” Cropsey in Basin, WY. At 10 years old, the family moved to Orchard Bench where she was raised on a dairy/sheep farm with two younger siblings, Richard “Dick” Cropsey and Norma J. (Cropsey) Franklin. 

She graduated from Basin High School in 1952 as salutatorian of her graduating class. She excelled in English, typing, shorthand, and bookkeeping which carried her to her goal of becoming a secretary. 

After graduation, Barbara began working as a secretary at Mountain Bell Telephone Company. Two years later, she met a lineman named Lawrence “Larry” Ralph Daly and on her 21 st birthday he asked her to marry him. She was the love of his life, and they were married at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Basin on May 12, 1956.

Barbara and Larry raised two daughters, Valerie Ann Daly (Lubken) and Michelle Faye Daly. Of everything Barbara did in her 91 years, she was the most proud of them and the remarkable and outstanding women, they had become. Valerie provided her two granddaughters, Tiffany Allison Lubken and Tracy Vanessa Lubken, who became a favorite source of pride as the only ones who knew her simply as Grams. Nephews Rod Cropsey, Matthew Kussman, Tommy Doherty, and Nieces Brenda Laskoskie and Holly Braun and a wide circle of extended family filled out the rest of her story.

Barbara worked at the Big Horn County Extension Office for several years and was active with the Big Horn County Fair, FFA and 4-H activities. She also spent many years as a 4-H leader and Girl Scout Leader.

Prior to moving to Gillette Wyoming in 1973, with Larry’s promotion to AT& T supervision, Barbara worked for the Big Horn County Clerk’s office. 

Barbara was always very active with the church, played piano and accompanied Sunday services as well as being a Sunday school children’s teacher.

Upon moving to Gillette, Barbara started working for the Campbell County Public School District as secretary to the County Purchasing Agent. She retired at 55, after several years of being the Campbell

County Public School District Purchasing Agent, her highest work accomplishment.

Following their retirement, Barbara and Larry started spending their winters in Mesa and summers in Basin. After Larry’s death, Barbara continued to spend winters in Arizona with daughter, Valerie and granddaughter, Tiffany. 

Valerie took her mother to Basin every summer so she could spend that time with her sister, Norma, and returned to drive her back to Arizona each winter. Barbara loved those road trips with Valerie and the time she spent with Norma in Basin. She loved going to church at St. Andrews and helping out at the Neat Repeat Thrift Store at the church.

Barbara loved to read fiction, had a soft spot for spaghetti and meatball sauce, and loved to watch old movies. But most of all, Barbara enjoyed her time with her daughters and her granddaughters and over the last few years with her grandson in law after Tracy’s marriage. Her faith and her daily writing in her prayer journal showed that the legacy of her life is not measured in achievements, but it is better measured in honesty, responsibility, faith, patience, and an enduring devotion to her family Those are the values she wished to pass on.

Barbara is survived by her daughters, Valerie Lubken of Phoenix, AZ and Michelle Daly of Payson, AZ and two granddaughters and one grandson in law. 

She was proceeded in death by her husband Larry, her parents Hazel and Budd, her brother Dick and her sister Norma, and her son in law, Donald.

For everyone who called her Barb, Mom, Grandma, Grams, Bobby, or Barbie, she is deeply missed, and never forgotten.