Obituary of Virginia Bowman Barr

Virginia B. Barr, age 90, passed on to heaven at her home in Reston, Virginia, surrounded with love by her family on July 1, 2019.

irginia (Ginny) was born on February 2, 1929 to George and Francis Bowman in Boones Mill, Virginia.  From an early age, she touched the hearts of many in her community with her beautiful voice, singing for church services and weddings to the accompaniment of her sister, Charlotte. On November 15, 1953, she became the loving wife to Cameron C. Barr, Jr, marking the beginning of an inspirational partnership in marriage lasting nearly 66 years.  She is mother to three children, Cameron Clay Barr, Suzanne Barr Russ and Eric W. Barr, as well as their spouses, and she is grandmother (Nanny) to Earl Russ, III and Benjamin Russ.

After high school, she attended Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina, and graduated with a degree in Christian Education and music.  She later earned a Master’s Degree in Counseling at Slippery Rock College in Pennsylvania.   

Ginny Barr has been a lifetime educator, teaching and touching innumerable young lives through her career in education, and has turned more than a few lives around within her warm, welcoming home. She accepted everyone, as they were, into her home with a meal and hours of thoughtful conversation – siblings, cousins, children, friends, students and children’s friends, along with three horses, dogs, cats, and even a rabbit and a duck.

Ginny’s lifetime of Christian service includes her role as Christian Education Director and lead soprano at Tower United Presbyterian Church in Grove City, Pennsylvania.  She also served as Academic Dean and English Teacher at Christchurch Episcopal School, Christchurch Virginia and Choir Director for 17 years at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Woodstock, Virginia.

A memorial service will be held at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Herndon, Virginia on Saturday, July 6, 2019 at 11:00 AM. A service at Mountainview Memorial Park near Boones Mill, Virginia will be held at a later date, yet to be determined.  In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Virginia’s name to: Christian Appalachian Project http://www.christianapp.org, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital http://www.stjude.org  or St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, 432 Van Buren St, Herndon, VA 20170, http://www.saint-timothys.org.