Barbara Herman Kremen

1922 - 2022

Barbara Herman Kremen
February 13, 1922 - August 15, 2022
Durham, North Carolina - Barbara Herman Kremen passed away peacefully at home on August 15, 2022, at the age of 100. She was a loving wife, a devoted mother, a loyal friend, a writer, teacher and gardener who inspired and helped develop the moss garden at the Sarah P. Duke University Gardens, an excellent cook, and a woman of great wit, humor, wisdom, resourcefulness and gentleness, loved by many.
Barbara became a lifelong reader as a child. After graduating from Bryn Mawr, she enlisted in the army during World War II, serving as a journalist. After the war, she moved to Europe for several years. There she wrote poetry and made lifelong friends. Returning to New York, she met her future husband, Irwin Kremen, and through him became close friends with poet and potter M.C. Richards, dancer Merce Cunningham, composer John Cage, and others. In 1963, Barbara and Irwin moved to Durham, N.C., where Irwin was professor of psychology at Duke University. While her husband developed a second career as an artist, Barbara continued writing poetry and then short stories and novellas, quietly and without fanfare. In the final year of her life, she published a collection of her short stories and novellas entitled The Figure in the Glass (Horse and Buggy Press, 2021).
Barbara is lovingly remembered by her children Adam and Claire Kremen and their spouses, her grandchildren Anya Fineman and Ethan Kremen, her nephews and nieces and their spouses, and her many devoted friends. She lived a fruitful and good life. She will be sorely missed.
Memorial donations in her name may be made to the Sarah P. Duke Gardens Annual Fund (https://gifts.duke.edu/gardens).