Barbara Griffin Burks

Barbara Griffin Burks

February 8, 1959 - February 21, 2026

A Life Welcomed Home
After sojourning on this earth for 67 years, Barbara Griffin Burks stepped into the fullness of eternal life on Saturday, February 21, 2026. Encircled by the family she built, loved, and faithfully held together for 47 years, she passed peacefully into the arms of her Savior as they sang in worship of Christ's triumph over death and the grave. Because of her belief in His victory, she won her hard-fought, nearly three-year battle with cancer and is finally home with Jesus.

Barb's Beginnings, Imagination, and Irreverent Charm
Born in Melbourne, Florida, to the late Floyd and Laharan (Ezell) Griffin, Barbara was raised in Fort Walton Beach. She had an older brother, Brian Griffin (New Jersey), who is also deceased. Her father, a Navy veteran and electrical engineer, was quiet, strong, intelligent, and steady. Her mother, raised in a farming family, was a homemaker for many years before later working in retail and preschool education. Barbara was extremely close with her father and was always a daddy's girl. When she wrote in his obituary in 2013, "He was a constant source of quiet strength and affection and was loved and respected by everyone who knew him," she likely did not realize she was writing her own legacy.

From an early age, Barbara possessed an extraordinary imagination, remarkable artistic talent, and a free spirit. As a young girl, she found in books the magic of being carried into endless new worlds of possibility and wonder. Her lifelong curiosity and longing for adventure would lead her far beyond their pages and into travel, creativity, enduring relationships, and the rich discovery of the world around her.

That same expansive spirit showed up in her personality. Barbara was playful and hilarious, full of spunk, mischief, and razor-sharp wit. Her perfectly timed, delightfully sarcastic humor brought laughter and lightness wherever she went, disarming even the most guarded hearts.

From Gainesville to Gulf Breeze
After graduating from Choctawhatchee High School in 1976, Barbara attended the University of Florida, where she was a member of Delta Gamma sorority. During her sophomore year, on a blind date arranged by friends, she met the man who would capture her heart, Barney "Buddy" Burks III of Pensacola. Buddy was charismatic, handsome, and a blast to be with. He made her laugh easily, and she loved that life with him felt like an adventure. From the very first day, he knew she was the one, and after just two and a half months of dating, he proposed. They were married on March 24, 1979, and eventually made their home in Gulf Breeze, where they raised four children and opened both their doors and their table to countless others.

Affectionately known as Barb, Darlin, Mama, Momo, Mommy, Meemaw, Ruxpin, BB, Barbs, Mamma B, and many other beloved nicknames, Barbara was first and foremost a wife and a mother, anchored firmly in her deeply personal relationship with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Grace to Grace: A Marriage That Forged a Legacy
For 47 years, she wholeheartedly loved and faithfully served Buddy. He was her person, her partner, and her best friend. She was the love of his life, his greatest treasure, his confidante, and the quiet strength that held their family together. He depended on her completely, and she took joy in being the one he leaned on. Caring for him was one of the clearest ways she expressed her love. She anticipated his needs and consistently placed his well-being above her own. As they built their family, they also built a life rooted in faith. Their marriage reflected what God designed it to be: a living picture of Christ's love for His Church—grace upon grace producing mutual sanctification, shared joy, and a depth of fellowship that only covenant love can cultivate.

The Matriarch
Barbara's identity and joy were being "Mom" to Jourdan Johnson (Jeff), Andrea Burks, Barney "Buddy" Burks IV (Bree), and Jacob "Jake" Burks (Allison). Barbara was the matriarch, private prayer warrior, advisor, keeper of birthdays and schedules, cook, referee, advocate, peacemaker, caretaker, Amazon orderer, buyer of gifts, counselor, champion of causes, and glue. She steadily built a family culture rooted in faith in Jesus that revolved around gathering, laughing loudly, fierce protection of one another, and constant presence. She was the epitome of love, loyalty, grace, and tenderness.

Her children remember a mother who came to their rescue without hesitation, who wrapped them in her arms when their world felt like it was ending, who stayed awake until everyone was home, who sent care packages to college, who taught them to read, to create, to do chores, and to believe they were deeply loved. She protected and sharpened them. She saw each one clearly. She gave them a place to rest and lean into, and she never stopped being their safest place.

As her children married, she intentionally welcomed each spouse as her own son or daughter. She did not use the term "in-law." They were simply hers. Each felt maternally nurtured, fully embraced, and dearly loved. In many ways, they say, she became a mother to them, too.

Becoming BB
Barbara adored her eleven grandchildren: Case, Ayden, and Beacon; Bobby; Belle, Barnes, and Boaz; and Cooper, Brayden, Kinsley, and Makenna. Becoming a grandmother meant becoming "BB," a title she wore with pride and joy for the rest of her life.

She traveled faithfully to Nashville and Atlanta and spent countless hours locally so that each grandchild would feel known, seen, and equally cherished. She kept them, rocked them, read to them, laughed with them, asked thoughtful questions, listened closely, cheered at their games and performances, and made sure they knew how deeply they mattered. Her home overflowed with toys and arts supplies, and shelves filled with children's books. She nurtured in her grandchildren the same love of reading and creativity that had shaped her own life. She took time to truly know each grandchild. When choosing gifts, BB delighted in selecting things tailored to each of their interests, always encouraging creativity, learning, and individuality.

Cooking meals that gathered the entire family around the table while listening, laughing, and making everyone else laugh was her most magical party trick and one of her dearest gifts to us all.

Being "BB" was the crown of her family life.

Friendship
Barbara cultivated true and lasting friendships that became steady anchors in her life. She remained close to friends from high school, church youth group, and early motherhood, and in the past decade shared life with a core group who gathered regularly for dinners, book club, prayer, and uncontrollable laughter. Friends described her as hilarious, encouraging, safe, nonjudgmental, magnetic, and always there. They loved her edgy, mischievous streak, her occasional cussing, and the way she was unfiltered in the very best way.

A Life of Ministry
For 44 years, Barbara was a faithful member of First Baptist Church of Pensacola, where she served as Student Ministry Assistant for 20 years before retiring in June of 2024. "Assistant" never captured what she actually did.

She mothered a generation.

Her office became a refuge. Students lingered for hours, decorated the walls, left notes, wrote letters, and confided in her. She was wise, safe, hysterically funny, irreverent enough to disarm teenagers, and grounded in faith. Parents were deeply grateful for the role Barbara played in their children's lives and would often turn to her for parental guidance and support. Many former students continued to call, message, and visit her well into adulthood. Even during her illness, their messages poured in.

Barbara's ministry was never confined to a church office or a title, and investing in the lives of young people went far beyond her job. It was her life's true vocation. She embodied a profoundly maternal spirit that put people of all ages at ease. They opened up to her easily, sensing they were safe, understood, and valued. Barbara served her church and community in countless capacities. She taught Sunday School, led Bible studies, participated in local and global outreach, helped children with homework through after-school programs, read to them through school literacy initiatives, and mentored young women for more than four decades.

Barbara was profoundly generous and humble to her core. She quietly met needs wherever she saw them, never seeking recognition or advertising her generosity. She gave freely to those in need, budgeted carefully so she could buy gifts for children who had less, slipped Starbucks cards and cash into the hands of strangers, gave many thoughtful gifts, loved tipping generously, and wrote countless encouraging letters.

No matter where she went, Barbara felt called to care for the people in front of her. In her battle with cancer, she viewed her illness as a new ministry assignment. Even when sad, discouraged, and suffering, Barbara continually sought opportunities to share the love of Jesus with everyone around her, caring for nurses, encouraging hospital staff, and looking for ways to reflect Jesus through hardship. It was important to her to live that season with evident faith, serving as an encouragement and a witness to the sustaining grace of God.

Stretching Into Strength
Barbara possessed a rare artistic talent from childhood. Through creative writing, painting, and design, she gave expression, and often hilarity, to her vivid imagination.

After raising four children and entering an empty nest season while working full time, she returned to school at age 50 to study graphic design at Pensacola State College. After decades immersed in caretaking and church life, it required courage to enter the secular and competitive world of academia and art. Often the oldest in the room, surrounded by outspoken professors and boldly self-expressive students whose lives differed greatly from her own, she was stretched. And she flourished. She approached each project with intention, developing a beautiful, thoughtful, and distinctly original portfolio and eventually taking on freelance design work for family and friends.

As she stepped beyond her comfort, she discovered more fully who God had designed her to be and grew in confidence in both her abilities and her identity. Earning her degree at 55 marked a defining milestone, revealing she was capable of more than she had imagined.

As her confidence grew, so did her courage. Long a quiet rebel against perfectionism and polished appearances, she also began pushing back against harmful beliefs and practices within church culture. She grew especially passionate about the dignity of women and unwilling to accept attitudes that diminished or undervalued them. She was also compelled to speak when the church's institutional priorities eclipsed the humanity of the very people it was called to serve. With a peacemaker's spirit and respect for authority, she did not seek conflict. Her advocacy was thoughtful and measured, and often required great courage. Because of that, her voice carried weight, broadened perspectives, and earned respect.

The courage to stretch herself awakened her voice, and the fortitude God was shaping within her would soon be required in ways she could not yet see.

Forged In Fire
At the age of 55, Barbara entered an extraordinarily difficult year marked by profound loss and personal trials. Amid the joy of earning her college degree, she endured the heartbreaking death of her beloved father in July 2013. Just five months later, she learned of her brother's passing and bore the painful responsibility of informing her mother. The very next day, she received a diagnosis of breast cancer, followed by a lumpectomy the ensuing month and the start of chemotherapy by year's end.

Through the intense physical and emotional suffering of treatment, the grief of losing her father and brother, the daily care of her declining mother, and the management of her family's affairs—all while working full time—Barbara was enveloped in an overwhelming outpouring of love, support, and kindness from friends, family, and her church community, an experience she said profoundly changed her life. Though the stress was immense, this season deepened her relationships, strengthened her faith, and further refined her in ways that would prepare her for the trials still to come.

During her cancer treatments and in the years that followed, her mother's continuing decline presented Barbara with some of her greatest challenges yet. Steadfast in her commitment to honor her father and mother as she believed God had called her to do, she selflessly served with unwavering devotion every day until her mother's passing in 2017.

Joy in the Journey
After enduring surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, her scans were eventually clear, and she embraced the years that followed with gratitude and intention. The next season, shaped by the loss of her parents and brother and the sobering reality of cancer, was marked by a sharpened awareness of time. Barbara's desire to invest in what mattered most led her and Buddy to spend intentional time with their children and grandchildren and to explore new corners of the world together.

More determined than ever to seize moments with family, she traveled with renewed purpose, planning special outings and trips with those she loved. She delighted in seeking out charming, lesser-known towns she would spot on a map, lingering to read their histories and uncover the stories that gave each place its meaning and soul. She visited remarkable destinations from Alaska to Europe and the Mediterranean, along with many places in between, but nothing thrilled her quite like attending Broadway shows in New York City.

Relentless Disease, Relentless Woman
From ages 60-64, what were believed to be flare-ups of chronic bronchitis proved to be something far more serious. In May 2023, at age 64, Barbara learned that the breast cancer had returned and spread throughout her body as stage IV metastatic breast cancer.

Over the next three years, she underwent numerous treatments and extensive supportive care. Both the disease and the treatments were relentless, but so was she. She faced her illness with extraordinary courage and perseverance, unafraid of death, enduring suffering and pain few could truly comprehend.

In October 2025, amid illness and hospital stays, she and Buddy moved into the "forever home" he built for them in Cantonment. It quickly became a place of gathering, warmth, and laughter. There they celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, and her 67th birthday together, determined to make each moment count.

In her final days, her family gathered around her bedside, loving her well, joking with her, laughing together, reading Scripture, praying, and singing in worship. Nothing pleased her more than hearing her family laugh together. Fittingly, her last audible word was a perfectly timed joke that sparked an eruption of laughter. Then, as her family sang in worship around her, she drew her final breath in the home she and Buddy had built for their final chapter. From there, she entered her true forever home in the presence of her Savior.

BB's Enduring Legacy
BB leaves behind a lived example of abiding faith, a family culture she built, and a generational imprint that will endure long after her. She formed a family marked by loud laughter and fierce loyalty. Her husband, children, grandchildren, students, friends, and even strangers experienced her as a refuge. Her life demonstrated covenant love in marriage, intentional devotion in motherhood, and a faith that was lived more than spoken. She mothered far beyond biology and sought to join God in the healing and redeeming work prepared for those around her. Her work here carried eternal weight. She touched more lives than anyone can count, and the impact she made will ripple forward for generations.

Her family will carry forward her legacy of abiding faith, togetherness, generosity, courage, and fierce devotion to one another. Though our hearts are broken, we are profoundly grateful for 67 years of being loved by her and for the unshakable foundation she built within us.

She is survived by her husband, Buddy; her four children and their spouses; her eleven grandchildren; her two nephews, Eric Griffin and Ian Griffin of New Jersey; extended family in Thomasville, GA, and Pensacola, FL; and a wide circle of spiritual sons, daughters, and lifelong friends whose lives are forever marked by her love.

A celebration of her life will be held at First Baptist Church of Pensacola on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at 2:00 PM in the sanctuary. Visitation will precede the service at 1:00 PM in the atrium. In lieu of flowers, Barbara requested that donations be made to the American Cancer Society.

"His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.'"
— Matthew 25:21