“When I grow up I want to be like Barbara Stewart” was a sentiment echoed by many of the “younger” people who knew the 94-year-old business woman.

She was witty and sharp as a tack, even as her chronic illness got the better of her over this past year. Stewart died Friday and her life was celebrated Sunday.

Stewart, a young widow at the time, started a frame business 64 years ago. That business grew into Barbara Stewart Interiors, which has been a stalwart on Bowling Green’s Fountain Square for many years and will continue even after her death with daughter Susan Stewart Hoechner at the helm.

“Miss Stewart” – that’s what many called her despite her being Mrs. Stewart, a second-time widow to Charlie Stewart – up until a year ago had a favorite daily afternoon pastime. She would go to 440 Main for her afternoon tea with friends and regale them with tales from her storied past. That “tea” most know was a vodka martini and a side of ice. Always perfectly coiffed, Stewart also enjoyed her regular visits to the hair salon even this past year.

Stewart laughed and smiled large as she parceled out stories about the days she and Charlie went fishing with family and friends. They shared a jalopy of a houseboat with some friends. She traveled to Cuba, something she told her children she didn’t much care for. When her first husband, Ben Owen, shipped out for World War II, she went to work for the government at Oak Ridge, Tenn., where nuclear power was being developed. The beginnings of the atomic bomb also were there – something Stewart didn’t talk much about.

Stewart, who worked her entire adult life, ate chicken livers made and served personally by the best – Col. Harland Sanders. She baited, caught, cleaned and fried her own fish, played cards, read books, invested and kept up on current events.

She also was an artist, who initially supported her young family after Owen died by restoring oil paintings. She collected and sold antiques, keeping an eye out for bargains that she could resell. Antique buying and selling had become a smaller part of the business in the past decade.

Stewart had friends who showered her with gifts – candy from friends in Texas, Rum Ramseys and wild boar sausage from Louisiana and flowers on Valentine’s Day and her birthdays. People just wanted to give her a little something for their having known her and shared her company. She was entertaining, knowledgable and, well, elegant.

Her smile and laugh will be missed, but we’re sure her spirit will live on in the store that bears her name and as the people who shop and work there relay their “Miss Stewart” or “Miss Barbara” stories.