Former Wichitan Barbara Sinatra, Frank’s widow, dies at 90

Barbara Sinatra, who grew up in Wichita and became a model and Las Vegas showgirl as well as the fourth wife of legendary singer Frank Sinatra, has died at age 90.

Sinatra died Tuesday of natural causes at her home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., according to John Thoresen, director of the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center.

Barbara Sinatra was a prominent Palm Springs socialite in her own right before she married Sinatra in 1976. He was 60 and she 49. They remained wed until his death at 82 in 1998.

A graduate of Wichita North in 1944, Barbara Sinatra continued to nurture her Wichita roots even after marrying Ol’ Blue Eyes.

When Sinatra played a concert in Wichita in 1981, he and Barbara spent their off hours on the ranch of Jimmy and Winnie Razook. Barbara and Winnie were North High classmates.

Sinatra tended bar in the Razooks’ ranch home at a post-concert party, while Winnie and Barbara read old North High yearbooks with other classmates.

Born Barbara Blakely in Bosworth, Missouri, she recalled growing up poor and friendless, in a memoir.

She moved with her family to Wichita when she was 10 and to Long Beach, California, at 18. It was in Wichita where, like millions of other teenage girls in the 1940s, she fell in love with a voice on the radio.

“Frank Sinatra had always been part of my life – from when I first heard the singer everybody was talking about as a 15-year-old butcher’s daughter,” she said.

Barbara Sinatra became a prominent advocate and philanthropist for abused children. Together, Barbara and Frank founded the center that bears her name.

The nonprofit has provided therapy to more than 20,000 young victims of physical, sexual and emotional abuse since opening in 1986.

Thoresen says Sinatra remained active at the center until recently, raising funds and visiting with the children.

This story was originally published July 25, 2017 at 6:36 PM with the headline "Former Wichitan Barbara Sinatra, Frank’s widow, dies at 90."