Anne VandeGrift Barker

Anne VandeGrift Barker, a retired Howard County nurse, died Thursday, June 5, 2025, surrounded by her loving family in Bryn Mawr, PA, from complications related to Alzheimer's disease. She was 84.

The daughter of Dr. William B. VandeGrift, a pathologist, and Dorothy B. VandeGrift, a nurse, Ms. Barker was born on February 10, 1941, in Baltimore, and lived on Ridgemede Road, attending nearby Calvert School as a young girl. She graduated from the Bryn Mawr School in 1959 and received her Bachelor's degree from Antioch College in 1974, after previously attending Wells College and Goucher College.

In 1962, Ms. Barker married George P. Barker, her high school sweetheart, who had attended the Gilman School. Ms. Barker and her husband, a lawyer, lived in Ft. Hood, Texas, New York City, and Boston, before settling in the "new city" of Columbia, MD, in 1972. The Barkers believed deeply in the city's goal of creating a community that welcomed people of diverse backgrounds.

In Columbia, the Barkers raised three children in the Wilde Lake neighborhood, and Ms. Barker was an active member of the community, contributing to Columbia's Festival of the Arts and other civic efforts. She also worked as a hospice caregiver. She loved walking and running around Wilde Lake, greeting neighbors and friends along the way.

In 1991, following in the footsteps of her mother, she enrolled at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, earning a Bachelor of Science in nursing. She worked as a floor nurse for the Johns Hopkins Hospital and then directed a public health study on the incidence of high blood pressure in Baltimore's Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood. She then returned to Howard County, where she served as the health director of Health Alliance, a clinic for low-income individuals with chronic diseases, retiring in 2006.

In 2018, following the death of Mr. Barker in 2016, Ms. Barker reconnected with the couple's long-time friend, Ralph Johanson, a retired lawyer in Washington, DC. Together, they built a loving partnership and relocated from Columbia, MD, to Bryn Mawr, PA, to be closer to family.

Ms. Barker will always be remembered for her infectious laugh and contagious sense of fun, deep care for others, love of dancing and merriment, and sincere support of causes and efforts to improve our world's wellbeing.

In addition to Mr. Johanson, Ms. Barker is survived by two daughters, Kate Barker Swindell (Chris) of Boston, MA, and Maggie Barker Taylor (Jesse) of Gladwyne, PA, and one son, Van Barker, of San Diego, CA; and six grandchildren – Sam and Will Swindell; Austin and Millie Barker; and Betsy and George Taylor.

Donations in Ms. Barker's honor may be made to the Community Foundation of Howard County and the Alzheimer's Association. Services are private.