Barbara Timberlake Grier

Barbara Timberlake Grier was born November 9, 1945, and she passed away on September 25, 2024. She was 78 years young. She is survived and loved by her husband of 58 years Richard Lowry Grier, her son Grayson Francis Grier, her sisters Carolyn Timberlake Mullin of Chicago and Frances Timberlake Reichard of Charlotte, her sisters-in-law, Rosalind Grier Pierce and Ann Grier Rollins, her brother-in-law Edgar Lee Grier,III, by multiple nieces and nephews and by many, many friends.

Barbara was a born teacher and a womens’ advocate before that was a thing. She taught biology to high schoolers to put her husband through school. When she first came to Richmond she was a pre-abortion counselor at the Richmond Medical Center for Women. Then, she was employed by St. Catherine’s School to develop and teach a curriculum on sex education for young women and later a curriculum on drugs and alcohol education. She taught those for some 24 years.

She was a fire-starter for joy for those around her. As a member of a knitting group, she conceived and planned a trip to upstate New York to attend a nationally regarded yarn convention. She helped organize and plan trips for the Bon Air Babes, a group of then young women primarily from Bon Air United Methodist Church, to the beach and other choice destinations. She was an intrepid traveler and lifelong learner. She went on a 3 week trip to Turkey exploring the history and foundations of strong women. There, she met a fellow traveler who channeled the Virgin Mary (in a place where Christianity was outlawed) and she asked that person what it felt like to channel the Virgin. She went with a group of women to an array of yarn and art markets in villages and towns in Guatemala. She loved traveling with her husband of many years. She loved riverboat cruises and most especially the Christmas market riverboat cruises on the European rivers.

She loved art as an expression of her being. She was an art explorer as she traversed from one art medium to another. She loved making art creations for others—everything for cards for all occasions, to Halloween creatures of various sorts, to Christmas, Easter and birthday cards and gifts. A dear cousin recently sent us a photograph of 15 different cards that Barbara had created and sent to her over the years.

She was an inveterate ENFJ left over from those years when Myers-Briggs helped us understand ourselves. She was so intuitive that in a conversation she often knew the thought of her conversation partner before that partner had even thought that thought. That was particularly disconcerting to her husband of many years.

She was above all a glorious life partner. She was courageous beyond imagination and she was completely dedicated to those she loved. She leaves behind a generous legacy of joie de vivre and expressions of that joy to those many persons whose lives she changed for the better.

A celebration of her life will be held at 2:00 on October 4, 2024, at Grace Baptist Church, 4200 Dover Road, Richmond, Virginia 23221, with interment and reception at the church to follow. In lieu of flowers, contributions to Planned Parenthood Federation of America are requested.