WEST YARMOUTH — Barbara Joan Barker (Cree) was born on October 27, 1932 in Toronto, Ontario to John Harold Cree and Martha Gertrude Dusenbury Cree. The second of three daughters, Barbara moved to Arlington, Massachusetts in 1944. As a member of the Arlington High’s Class of 1950, Barbara was a three-sport student athlete with an earnest desire to enter the nursing field after her graduation. She was a proud alumna of the Class of 1953 from Deaconess School of Nursing.
Barbara first met Dick Barker in seventh grade in Arlington. They developed a strong friendship when Dick was at Dartmouth, and they married in 1954.
Barbara was a caregiver to her core, working at Deaconess as assistant head nurse on the thoracic unit, at Boston Psychopathic Hospital, Boston Lying-In Hospital, and at Boston’s Children’s Hospital. Later, she was an American Red Cross phlebotomist and the assistant director of The Elizabeth E. Boit Home in Wakefield.
In Wakefield, where she raised her three boys, she was a contributor to the community. She was a long-time member of the First Parish Congregational Church, where she was a Stephens Minister, President of the Women’s Guild, a Deaconess, and Church Moderator. Barbara was also past President and Treasurer of The Dartmouth College Women’s Club of Boston.
She and Dick retired to Bass River in West Dennis in 1997. For years Barbara and Dick delivered Meals-on-Wheels to local seniors and were active at the South Yarmouth Methodist Church and its Thrift Store. In 2018, Barbara and Dick moved to Maplewood at Mayflower Place, where she enjoyed all of her friends and events, and where she managed Maplewood’s greeting card store, personally making each card.
Barbara is survived by Dick Barker, her loving husband of 66 years, her sister Judie Fanjoy and her husband, Russell, of Wakefield; her sons Bill Barker and his wife, Sandy, of The Villages, FL; Tom Barker and his wife, Joanne, of West Dennis; John Barker and his wife, Julie, of Wellesley; six grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. She recently said, “My life has been full of many gifts, and I have been so blessed to have shared these few years on earth with so many wonderful people.”
Barbara has donated her body to Harvard Medical School to help train the next generation of healthcare providers. The family would like to thank Kimelki Gooden and the entire staff at Maplewood at Mayflower Place for their kind care, compassion, and support.
Services will be private for immediate family. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to The South Yarmouth United Methodist Church, 324 Old Main Street, South Yarmouth, MA 02664 syarmouthunitedmethodist@gmail.com.
For online guestbook, please visit www.hallettfuneralhome.com.
