Chesterfield, MO. December 18. Barbara Ann Bolin Russell has died from Parkinson’s Disease.  Born on the bed of her parents (Belmont, NC) – Kate and Manning Bolin, November 5, 1937.  Barbara began to pray for a sister or brother at the age of 5.  Sybil (DeJuan Harden d.) came when she was six, but then much sooner Brenda (Jim Edwards) comes, and Barbara stops her prayers for siblings.  Didn’t matter, soon came Michael (Alexis) and Stephanie (Franklin Williams).

We met in the summer of 1957, in Washington, DC.  I had to ask her three times to get a date.  We were married, First Presbyterian Church, Belmont NC on August 16, 1958.  There are three children, Bill Jr. and Tracy, Shannon and Susan, and Aimee Russell Birlingmair.  These kids blessed us with grandchildren and a great-granddaughter, Robert and Mary, Taylor, Amanda, and Lucy Anne, Earl Taylor and tori, Madi and Luke, Lorien and Brynn, Alaina and Eric, Ian and Amelia, Lexi Birlingmair, Shannon Birlingmair, Julian Chollet and Brianna Chollet.

In Washington, DC, Barbara worked for the US Air Force and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  In Decatur, GA, Barbara worked for the CDC and taught shorthand and business for the DeKalb County School system.  In Richmond, VA, she worked for the Continuing Ed Dept of Union Theological Seminary.  In the St. Louis area, Barbara worked for the meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, USA and for fourteen years she was the Executive Director of the Greater St. Louis Interfaith Partnership.

There is no way to adequately tell you of this remarkable woman.  She was passionate in her loving, work, and politics.  One example, when we moved to Richmond in 1968, she refused to be a Den Mother of the Cub Scouts unless it included African-Americans.  And it happened.  She was a graduate of the George Washington University, Washington, DC.

All these years with her are not enough.  Oh, I will miss you, Barbara.  I bless the day I found you… Now and forever, let it be me.  And it was so.

PLEASE DO NOT SENT FLOWERS.  I will have an asthma attack.  If you would like to give in Barbara’s memory, there is a fund for staff at Mason Pointe Care Center,  314-362-8284 (Becky) or the Southern Poverty Law Center, ACLU.  Or your preference.