Most Americans begin retiring in their mid-60s. But that wasn’t the case for Barbara Henkels, a devout Catholic and fierce advocate for education.
Rather, when Barbara was 71 years old, she and her late husband, Paul Henkels, opened the Regina Coeli Academy in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, in 2003.
“She’d raised her 10 kids and she was still healthy,” Paul Henkels Jr., one of Barbara’s sons, told IW Features. “She had things to do and she had things she wanted to do and things she believed in, and so that was the advent of the schools.”
The Henkels were “completely hands-on,” when it came to developing their schools, according to Paul, who noted that his mom and dad were involved with everything from hiring teachers and headmasters to working on the school’s curriculum.
“It was a lot of work getting it off the ground, finding teachers, finding a building, trying to make it financially solvent,” said Paul, who is the second child and firstborn son, named for his father. “But as they did it, more people came, more people got interested, and they started other schools.”
Following the success of the Regina Coeli Academy, the Henkels also opened the Regina Angelorum Academy in Ardmore, Pennsylvania; the Regina Luminis Academy in Berwyn, Pennsylvania; and the Regina Academy at St. John the Baptist in Ottsville, Pennsylvania.
Yet, Barbara, who was born on September 26, 1931, and raised on a cattle ranch in Kansas alongside her five siblings, didn’t grow up Catholic.
It wasn’t until she attended Mount Carmel Academy, a prestigious Catholic boarding school in Wichita, Kansas, that she decided to convert, Carol Lilley, one of Barbara’s daughters, told IW Features.
Two years after earning her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas in 1952, Barbara was baptized at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Dallas in 1954 and officially joined the Catholic Church.
“They say…[converts] to Catholicism, they make your best Catholics, and sometimes if you’ve grown up around it, it’s always been there,” Paul told IW Features. “I think people tend to get lukewarm. Well, she was on fire with her faith, and so I think what she decided to do when she was 71, of all things, she started her first school.”
Barbara married her husband, Paul, in 1958 and relocated to Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, where they raised their 10 children.
“As my dad used to say, you can take the girl out of the prairie, but you can’t take the prairie out of the girl,” Lilley said. “She just did her own thing and didn’t care what people thought. In her own way, she was wild like the prairie.”
Barbara was a woman who “bucked the system,” Lilley explained. Her mother married a man from the East Coast, had a large family, was fully involved in her children’s educations, and even dedicated time to political action. “She protested the Vietnam War down in Philadelphia with a baby under each arm. She had a nephew that she was very close with that went over there and fought, so she felt strongly about everything, religion, education, politics, the arts,” Lilley added.
Though she was passionate about politics, one of Barbara’s most prominent lasting legacies is her devotion to faith. Barbara’s commitment to Catholicism wasn’t confined to her schools: She additionally served on the boards of Ave Maria University in Florida, St. Thomas Aquinas College in California, Franciscan University of Steubenville, and an array of other charities and academic institutions.
The late Pope Francis even recognized Barbara’s contributions to Catholic education by appointing her to the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Sylvester in 2019.
Barbara, who died on May 5, 2025, at 93 years old, had three careers, according to her son, Paul.
“The first career would be as [a] homemaker, wife, and mother. The second career would be as [a] church and community volunteer,” he explained. The third career, however, was starting those schools and serving as their president. Yet, Barbara had even more offers on her plate.
“She was accepted into a really, I would say, I think it was an exclusive kind of art program at the Barnes Museum, and it was very hard to get into. And they brought her in, they accepted her, and she decided that she actually wouldn’t do it after all because she wanted to spend time with her kids,” Lillley told IW Features, adding that her mom “knew that it would divide her time too much.”
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Lilley said, had also “offered her a job heading up the education department, and she decided to turn it down because she wanted to be home with the kids, and really everything she did in her life was a choice.”
Barbara was also a grandmother to 30.
Christopher, who is the 19th grandchild, recalled one of his memories with “his Grammy,” as he fondly called her, when the family attended the Philadelphia Orchestra.
“One thing that always stood with me was we used to take these trips to the orchestra down in Philadelphia, and one year, I think we had the most of our grandchildren ever, and it was probably around 20 to 30 of us,” Christopher said. “And she is the only woman in the world who can take 20, probably the oldest was 12, children into the orchestra and not have anyone say a word.”
Christopher continued that Barbara “was just so strong and powerful that she could contain 20 grandchildren, and it was not a problem. No one batted an eye. She was just that special of a woman, so that’s what she meant to me.”
As the saying goes, “Age is but a number” and Barbara Henkels’ story is proof of that. Barbara’s commitment to the Catholic faith, determination to make a difference, and devotion to her descendants shows why she was not only a “Champion Woman” in her family, but also in her community.
