Barbara Whitener

Barbara Louise Brown Whitener died on March 28, 2023 in Athens, Ga., one month shy of her 100th birthday. She was born in Columbia, S.C. on April 24, 1923 to Florence Bodenhorn Brown and Reverend Pleasant David Brown, long-time pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church in Salisbury. She attended Catawba College where she met her husband, Sterling Hegnauer Whitener, whom she married on July 1, 1944. Barbara's 72-year marriage to Sterling, who died in January 2017, led her on an adventurous and meaning-filled life journey. Barbara was Sterling's partner in missionary service in China (1946-51) and then Hong Kong until they returned to Salisbury, NC in 1967. Barbara earned a Licensed Practical Nurse degree in 1978 with a focus on elder care. With Sterling, Barbara created a strong family life for their six children - Karen (deceased); Chris (& Barbi, d.) of Blowing Rock, NC; Kim of New York, NY; Bonnie (& Tom) of North Carolina; Dana (& Mark) of Crawford, GA; and Katrina (& Gerald) of Raleigh, NC. She was simultaneously very active in their UCC church, volunteered for Meals on Wheels, and spent summers at their vacation cottage in Blowing Rock, NC where as an avid environmentalist she was a founding committee member for the Middle Fork Greenway. Barbara was highly artistic, engaging in painting, wildflower photography and cataloging, macramé, needlepoint and award-winning flower arranging in the Japanese Ikebana style. She was an amazing cook of Chinese food, with a natural love of food and ingredients, and was a generous and gracious hostess. Her retirement years with Sterling at Friends Homes West in Greensboro, NC until her move to Athens, GA in 2018 were filled with extensive travel, warm friendships, strong church relationships, and great joy in the expansion of her family to include ten grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. Barbara was a person of great honesty and integrity, conscience and loyalty, believing strongly in the strength of family and community. Her deep faith in a loving and forgiving God was a lifelong source of strength and peace. She is mourned by a still-vast network of friends across the country and around the world, and she leaves a huge gap in the lives of her loving and grateful family. Arrangements: A memorial service will be held in mid-June, date TBD, at Congregational UCC in Greensboro, NC. In lieu of flowers, please send any contributions to Middle Fork Greenway Association, c/o Blue Ridge Conservancy, or to Congregational UCC in Greensboro for their outreach programs.