Barbara Payne

1935 - 2022

Barbara Payne
August 24, 1935 - March 30, 2022
Marin County, California - Barbara Ransom Payne died on March 30, 2022, with family by her side. She was 86. She will be remembered for her bright blue eyes, her active lifestyle and her love of family and friends. She also loved dark chocolate, juicy peaches, chardonnay and peanut butter on gluten-free toast. Barbara took pleasure in gardening, walking and having a very clean kitchen. She enjoyed close relationships with her parents, especially her mother, and will be interred beside her beloved husband of 60 years, Peter Roberts Payne, in Beaufort, South Carolina, where they lived from 2000 until 2018 when Peter passed away. Barbara's children moved her in 2021 to Marin County, California to better care for her Parkinson's condition.
Barbara is survived by her younger brother Robert Ransom of Maryland, three of her four children Steve, Charlie and Elizabeth, their spouses, Tamera, Susan and Kurt, ten grandchildren ranging in ages from 14 to 29 and a great grandchild, Paul James Morin, grandson of Susan Dexter Payne Morin, Barbara's oldest daughter, who passed away in 2021.
Barbara's faith carried her forward from childhood and she cherished church communities in the many places she lived. She found deep and restorative peace at the communion rail and her beautiful soprano voice could be heard during every hymn. At the Parish Church of St. Helena in Beaufort, Barbara led the research and development of the church's extensive history and edited Amazing Grace – A History of the Parish, published in 2011. She served on several church committees and was a Stephen Minister.
Barbara was born to Ida Aldridge and Stephen Webbe Ransom on August 24, 1935 in New Jersey, just one mile from her husband Peter Payne's family. They met when Barbara entered kindergarten and married on July 12, 1958 at Calvary Church where they had also both been baptized and confirmed. They raised their children first in New Jersey, then Connecticut and eventually Rhode Island before retiring on Dataw Island, South Carolina. Barbara was a long-time high school English teacher prior to her career in public relations, retiring as Vice President from Gilbane & Company. She attended Middlebury College and later earned a Master's degree in English from the University of Rhode Island.
Gifts honoring Barbara and Peter Payne can be directed to The Parish Church of St. Helena. A service for all who knew her will be held on Saturday, July 2nd at 10:00 in the morning in the Apostle's Circle at the Parish Church of St. Helena cemetery, 600 Newcastle Street, Beaufort, South Carolina.