BARBARA BARRETT

BARRETT, Barbara Anne Poague, 78, of Concord, N.H., passed away naturally on Sunday, March, 31, 2013, at The Presidential Oaks Retirement Home, after suffering a heart attack in February. She is survived by her two daughters, Susan Elizabeth Barrett of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and Katherine Barrett Baker of Manakin-Sabot, Va.; her son-in-law, James Walter Baker; her grandson, Chasen Poague Barrett; and her longtime, dear friend and companion, John Johnson of Quichee, Vt.. She was valedictorian of the Class of 1952 at Fairmont High School in Dayton, Ohio, and a member of the Tri-Delta Sorority at Ohio State University. She was also only one of two women in her graduating class of 10,000, from OSU in 1956, who graduated with a B. S. in Business Administration. She was relocated to Richmond, Va., in 1964, where she was a member of the Deep Run Hunt Club, the DAR, The Woman's Club, The Collectors' Circle and The Federated Arts Council of Richmond. She worked as a buyer for Montaldo's and Miller & Rhoads. "Happy memories," she said of those years. She moved to New York City in 1977 to run her own business, B&B Consultants, on Seventh Avenue, and was an active member of the Knickerbocker Republican Club. She retired to Concord, N.H. in 1996. She was an avid bridge player, and politically active as president of the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women in Concord, entertaining many national political figures such as Gov. John Kasich, Gov. Mike Huckabee, Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Gov. Mitt Romney. Although she made an unsuccessful run for the New Hampshire State Legislature in 2002, she was awarded The National Republican Congressional Committee 2003 National Leadership Award, The Norris Cotton award for Concord in 2004, The RNC Certificate of Appreciation in 2005, and a citation from Governor John Lynch in recognition for her work as a Volunteer Consumer Affairs Specialist at the Department of Justice in 2006. She was buried Thursday, April 4, 2013, in Clymer Cemetery, in Bluffton, Ohio. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The North Shore Animal League at www.animalleague.org and the non-profit, Presidential Oaks Retirement Home, at www.presidentialoaks.org.

This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.