Helen R. BARBOUR

HAMPTON - Helen Ruth (Adams) Barbour of Hampton, wife of the late Orvid C. Barbour, Jr., has died peacefully after a long illness. She is preceded in death by her mother, Edythe S. Kerlin of Aliquippa, Pa., and Hampton, her father Leo William Adams of Pittsburgh, Pa., her brother, and her two sisters.
Born in Bridgewater, Pa., in 1924, and raised near Pittsburgh, Mrs. Barbour moved to Hampton with her mother during World War II. She worked at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., where she met her future husband, at that time a designer and student in the Apprentice School. Because school policy of the time forbade apprentices marrying, they wed in secret on January 1, 1944, in Pittsburgh. Five months before Mr. Barbour's death in 1994, the couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with family and friends.
Mrs. Barbour lived for many years in the neighborhood of Powhatan Park, where she was a founding member and past president of the neighborhood Garden Club. In a home filled with music, she and her husband raised their children, helped to raise five grandchildren, and enjoyed the quietude and wildlife at the edge of the woods by their house.
Mrs. Barbour is survived by her daughter Gwen B. Milholen, her husband Lester C. Milholen, of Hampton, and their three children, James L. Milholen of Alexandria, and Adam H. Milholen and Elizabeth M. Milholen of Hampton. She is survived also by her son Christopher Barbour of Boston, MA, his partner Robin H. Sung, and his children Dylan C. Barbour and Ellen E. Barbour of Boston.
The family will receive friends from 3 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 13, at R. Hayden Smith Funeral Home on South Armistead Avenue in Hampton. Funeral is graveside at 2 p.m. Monday, Dec. 14, at Parklawn Cemetery on North Armistead Avenue, Hampton.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Wythe Rescue Squad, 1430 Kecoughtan Road, Hampton, VA 23661, or to the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters, 601 Children's Lane, Norfolk, VA 23507.
The family wishes to thank the nurses and staff of Coliseum Park Nursing Home for their kind care and support. View and post condolences on our online guestbook at dailypress.com/guestbooks.