Barbara Orbison, Wife of the Late Roy Orbison, Dies

The wife of the late Roy Orbison died on Tuesday, Dec. 6. Barbara Orbison, who married the singer in 1969, succumbed to pancreatic cancer at the age of 60 at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. Her death comes on the 23rd anniversary of Roy's death from a heart attack at the age of 52.

In her later years, Barbara Orbison worked to preserve her husband's music and legacy. Along with her son Roy Orbison Jr., she released a four-CD box set of her husband's recordings in 2008. She also released a package of live recordings called 'Combo Concert' in 1998 and 'The Monument Singles Collection' this year. In January 2010, she accepted a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on her husband's behalf.

Rolling Stone reports that the German born Barbara first met Roy when she was 17 and he was 32, just two years after the tragic death of his first wife, Claudette. "Roy transitioned well from the '50s into the '60s," she told Spinner. "In the '70s he was basically rebuilding a life. He didn't want to do anything except be somebody in love, with a little money and lots of fun. By the '80s, he was ready again."

In 2010, Barbara's Nashville based publishing company was honored with a BMI Song of the Year award for Taylor Swift's 'You Belong With Me.' She remained active well into 2011, before being hospitalized.

Her sons Wesley, Roy Kelton, Jr. and Alexander were by her side when she died. According to the New York Daily News, Barbara Orbison will be buried next to her husband at Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles.