Barbara Ann Harmon Whitton passed away on December 23, 2025, in Fort Myers, Florida, after a brief battle with lung cancer. She was 88.
Barbara is survived by her husband, James G. F. Whitton Sr.; her son, James Tully Beatty Jr., and his wife, Vanessa Lacer, of Reno, Nevada; her daughter, Kaki Riley, and her husband, Bill, of West Palm Beach, Florida; and her grandson, Joseph Giacomo Beatty, of Wilmington, North Carolina.
Born January 29, 1937, in Gastonia, North Carolina, Barbara was the middle child of Grady Reese Harmon and Kathleen Newton Harmon. She was preceded in death by her brother, Larry Steve Harmon, in 2000, and her younger sister, Kay Norusis, in 2020.
In the early 1960s, Barbara married and moved to Los Angeles, where her husband competed as a middle-distance runner for the Los Angeles Track Club. She returned to North Carolina in 1964, and in her second marriage found herself immersed in what many consider the golden era of ACC men’s basketball. During the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she traveled extensively with the UNC Tar Heels, rarely missing a moment courtside.
Barbara’s professional life began almost by accident. At a cocktail party in the early 1970s, she overheard two attorneys lamenting the shortage of court reporters in Charlotte, North Carolina. Encouraged to explore the profession, she taught herself through a correspondence course and, armed with determination and confidence, mailed a letter to every attorney in Charlotte announcing her availability. Her very first deposition involved a major construction case with eight attorneys present. From a single desk in the den of her home, Barbara built what became the leading court reporting service in North Carolina. In 1987, she was honored as the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce’s Woman Business Owner of the Year. She later sold the business following the high-profile Jim Bakker PTL trial, retired, and moved to Florida, dividing her time between Fort Myers and the mountain communities of Banner Elk and Blowing Rock, North Carolina.
After the death of her second husband from lung cancer in 2002, Barbara faced the same diagnosis herself in 2004. She endured a thoracotomy, chemotherapy, and radiation, emerging cancer-free for the next twenty years. True to her spirited nature, she took up fly fishing and traveled to Wyoming and Idaho, all while continuing her seasonal life between Florida and North Carolina with her beloved Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Annie.
In the summer of 2010, eight years after being widowed, Barbara met the man she would call the true love of her life, James Whitton Sr. They married that December and shared fifteen joyful years together.
Barbara was deeply committed to service and leadership. She served four terms as a trustee on the Board of Directors of Lees-McRae College; three terms on the Board of the Appalachian Regional Healthcare Foundation; and as a board member of Grandfather Home for Children. Her involvement also included serving on the 2017 Lees-McRae Presidential Search Committee and co-chairing the 2017–2018 Lees-McRae Capital Campaign. She was a longtime supporter of Habitat for Humanity in Avery and Watauga counties in North Carolina and Lee County, Florida.
An active and social presence in every community she lived in, Barbara cherished time with friends at Shell Point, Fiddlesticks Country Club, Elk River Country Club, and Hound Ears Golf and Country Club. She delighted in Mah Jongg, numerous bridge groups, Wordle with her daughter, more than four decades of golf, and—always—college basketball.
A memorial service will be held on Friday, January 9, at The Chapel at the Village Church at Shell Point in Fort Myers, Florida, followed by a Celebration of Life.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hospice Care at Shell Point, Habitat for Humanity, or Eddy House of Reno, Nevada.
The family extends heartfelt thanks to Hospice Care at Shell Point and to the many friends and caregivers who supported Barbara with love and compassion.
Barbara is survived by her husband, James G. F. Whitton Sr.; her son, James Tully Beatty Jr., and his wife, Vanessa Lacer, of Reno, Nevada; her daughter, Kaki Riley, and her husband, Bill, of West Palm Beach, Florida; and her grandson, Joseph Giacomo Beatty, of Wilmington, North Carolina.
Born January 29, 1937, in Gastonia, North Carolina, Barbara was the middle child of Grady Reese Harmon and Kathleen Newton Harmon. She was preceded in death by her brother, Larry Steve Harmon, in 2000, and her younger sister, Kay Norusis, in 2020.
In the early 1960s, Barbara married and moved to Los Angeles, where her husband competed as a middle-distance runner for the Los Angeles Track Club. She returned to North Carolina in 1964, and in her second marriage found herself immersed in what many consider the golden era of ACC men’s basketball. During the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she traveled extensively with the UNC Tar Heels, rarely missing a moment courtside.
Barbara’s professional life began almost by accident. At a cocktail party in the early 1970s, she overheard two attorneys lamenting the shortage of court reporters in Charlotte, North Carolina. Encouraged to explore the profession, she taught herself through a correspondence course and, armed with determination and confidence, mailed a letter to every attorney in Charlotte announcing her availability. Her very first deposition involved a major construction case with eight attorneys present. From a single desk in the den of her home, Barbara built what became the leading court reporting service in North Carolina. In 1987, she was honored as the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce’s Woman Business Owner of the Year. She later sold the business following the high-profile Jim Bakker PTL trial, retired, and moved to Florida, dividing her time between Fort Myers and the mountain communities of Banner Elk and Blowing Rock, North Carolina.
After the death of her second husband from lung cancer in 2002, Barbara faced the same diagnosis herself in 2004. She endured a thoracotomy, chemotherapy, and radiation, emerging cancer-free for the next twenty years. True to her spirited nature, she took up fly fishing and traveled to Wyoming and Idaho, all while continuing her seasonal life between Florida and North Carolina with her beloved Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Annie.
In the summer of 2010, eight years after being widowed, Barbara met the man she would call the true love of her life, James Whitton Sr. They married that December and shared fifteen joyful years together.
Barbara was deeply committed to service and leadership. She served four terms as a trustee on the Board of Directors of Lees-McRae College; three terms on the Board of the Appalachian Regional Healthcare Foundation; and as a board member of Grandfather Home for Children. Her involvement also included serving on the 2017 Lees-McRae Presidential Search Committee and co-chairing the 2017–2018 Lees-McRae Capital Campaign. She was a longtime supporter of Habitat for Humanity in Avery and Watauga counties in North Carolina and Lee County, Florida.
An active and social presence in every community she lived in, Barbara cherished time with friends at Shell Point, Fiddlesticks Country Club, Elk River Country Club, and Hound Ears Golf and Country Club. She delighted in Mah Jongg, numerous bridge groups, Wordle with her daughter, more than four decades of golf, and—always—college basketball.
A memorial service will be held on Friday, January 9, at The Chapel at the Village Church at Shell Point in Fort Myers, Florida, followed by a Celebration of Life.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hospice Care at Shell Point, Habitat for Humanity, or Eddy House of Reno, Nevada.
The family extends heartfelt thanks to Hospice Care at Shell Point and to the many friends and caregivers who supported Barbara with love and compassion.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Barbara Ann Whitton, please visit our flower store.
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