Barbara Pullen Player

Barbara Pullen-Player passed away  peacefully at her residence at The Alexander Guest House, Oak Ridge, TN, June 2, 2024. Barbara was born to Earl and Virginia Whitaker in Umatilla, FL, February 19, 1933. 

Barbara loved to tell stories about her time as a young girl living on the showboat, Majestic, which navigated up and down the Ohio River. Her parents were actors on the boat, and her childhood looked like what most people only saw in movies or musicals!

After spending a few years in Kentucky with her grandmother, Barbara moved to Oak Ridge with her mother, who then was a nurse at Oak Ridge Hospital. She graduated from Oak Ridge High School in 1951, and a few years later married, William “Bill” Pullen, after he returned from service in Korea.  They soon started a family, and she worked full-time, raised three children, and did a thousand other things each day. 

She fell in love with doing leather work and became a longtime member of the Foothills Craft Guild, where she displayed and sold her beautiful creations.  Many of those treasures still decorate homes and mark books today!  She loved boating, fishing and pontooning on any of the many boats they had over the years. She also loved cooking and baking, whether it was banana bread, chocolate chip or peanut butter cookies, and they were always amazing!   She also supported Bill’s famous barbecuing of pork shoulders or chicken with all the preparation, sauce mixing and making all the fixings.

She was a decades-long member and Elder Emeritus of First Christian Church of Oak Ridge. She loved her church and her church family, and she spent many hours doing whatever needed to be done, for whatever program, fund raiser, or choir event.

Over the past few years, she never lost her smile, her charm, her sense of humor, her sassy comments, or her deep caring for others and love of her family, friends, and caregivers. Everyone who knew her knew she was one of the greatest caregivers of all.

Barbara was preceded in death by her parents, her husband William “Bill”  Charles Pullen Sr., and her daughter, Deborah Pullen Coffey. She is survived by her sons, William Charles Pullen, Jr., of Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Robert “Bobby” Pullen and his wife Jackie, of Oak Ridge.

The family would like to extend special thanks to the entire staff of The Alexander Guest House for the love, kindness, and genuine care they provided Barbara for more than three years, as well as Andrea and her team at Senior Home Care Services LLC for their wonderful work providing so much more than just therapy.     

The family will receive friends at Mott-McKamey Funeral Home, Oak Ridge, Thursday, June 6 at 1:00 p.m., followed by funeral services at 2 p.m. A private interment at Oak Ridge Memorial Park will follow the service.

In lieu of flowers please consider donating to The Alzheimer’s Association Tennessee at https://www.alz.org/tn, or Folds of Honor Tennessee at https://tennessee.foldsofhonor.org in Barbara’s name.