Birth of Barbara Pierce 

Barbara Pierce was born at Booth Memorial Hospital in Flushing, Queens in New York City on June 8, 1925, to Pauline Pierce (née Robinson) and Marvin Pierce. Her father was a businessman who worked at the McCall Corporation and descended from the Pierce family that included U.S. president Franklin Pierce. Barbara had a close relationship with her father, whom she considered a mentor in many aspects of her life. Her mother, the daughter of a Supreme Court of Ohio justice, was a housewife involved in the gardening community. Barbara was the third of her parents' four children and often felt overshadowed as a middle child. She grew up in Rye, New York, where she lived in relative comfort with servants assisting the family. Despite losing some comforts during the Great Depression, her father's successful career kept them from poverty. Barbara was athletic and enjoyed swimming, tennis, and cycling. She attended public school initially and later went to Rye Country Day School and Ashley Hall, a boarding school in Charleston, South Carolina.