Barbara Harkey

HARKEY, Barbara

Barbara Carole Payne Harkey passed away on June 26, 2025, surrounded by friends and family, after a courageous fight with ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease, for two and one-half years from her diagnosis on January 7, 2023. She was born in Atlanta at the Crawford Long Hospital on November 23, 1942, the first of three children of Woodrow Wilson Payne and Betty Landis Payne. She attended public schools in Chamblee, Georgia, and graduated from Chamblee High School, where she was Miss Chambion, in 1960. In that year, she was also Miss Junior Achievement, and a member of the company that produced the High Times television show.

She attended Erskine College. After working as a legal secretary in Washington, DC and in advertising and real estate in Atlanta, she resumed her education at Agnes Scott College in 1978, and that summer participated in the University of Georgia Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy. She graduated from Agnes Scott with a BA in Art History in 1982. She met Robert Harkey that year, and they were married in 1983. At the time of her death, they had been married for 42 years. Their daughter, Elizabeth McKenzie Harkey Gillespie (Bess), was born in 1987.

Barbara was a talented artist, and the Harkey home is filled with many of her paintings. When not painting, she became interested in computers and eventually became accomplished in many aspects of computing. She also loved gardening, and joined the Peachtree Garden Club in 1995, where she developed the club's first website and chaired the website committee for many years. She designed the logo for the club's annual Christmas Tour of Homes.

In the early 1990s, she co-chaired the annual Trinity School Art Auction. She was also a member of the boards of the Gardens for Peace program that established a world-wide network of gardens, SciTrek, and ARCS (Achievement Awards for College Scientists).

Barbara, Robert, Bess and later Bess's husband, Ben Gillespie, loved to travel and had many wonderful trips to various parts of the world. For many years, they took an annual trip to the HF Bar Ranch in Wyoming, where they developed many friendships with people from around the country. They also shared a love of the family dogs and cats, who provided them with the endless pleasures of their antics and affection.

Over the last few years, Barbara assumed one of her most cherished roles as "Gran" to Bess and Ben's son, Robbie. She took great pride in sharing photos and videos with her friends and family of her grandson's adventures as he discovered the world around him, and was overjoyed to see Robbie also show an early interest in art. Several of Robbie's paintings are prominently displayed in the Harkey home next to Barbara's paintings.

Barbara was predeceased by her parents; her brother, Michael Lee Payne (Judy); and three children of a previous marriage, Margaret Anne Owen, Meredith Lane Owen and Matthew Davis Owen. She is survived by her husband; daughter; son-in-law; grandson; her brother, James Earl Payne (Ginger); her beloved cousin, Vicky Jones; several nieces and nephews; and her friend and housekeeper, Sonia Coca.

A Celebration of Life for family and friends will be held at the Cherokee Town Club. Donations in her honor can be made to the Community Fund of the Peachtree Garden Club, ALS United of Georgia or Agape Hospice Care of Georgia.