Mrs. Barr’s history with UAB and the School of Health Professions actually predates their creation. She was one of the pioneering students whose desire for health education & training paved the way for the university & the school. Mrs. Barr was the first student & graduate of the University Hospital & Hillman Clinic School of Blood Bank Technology (1962), after graduation from University Hospital’s School of Medical Technology in 1959. She holds a B.S. in biology from Spring Hill College (1958) & attended Birmingham School of Law from 1963 to 1964. She began her medical-technology career in 1958 at University Hospital & Hillman Clinic where she worked as a rotating technologist, an instructor of blood bank technology, & later director of the blood bank. Mrs. Barr served as blood bank section head for Mobile General Hospital (now the University of South Alabama) & was technical director of New Orleans Blood Banks. She was a consultant for the Courtland scientific product division of Abbott Laboratory, Inc., where she worked from 1972 to 198.
Among Mrs. Barr’s favorite memories of her years at UAB was the excitement surrounding the outpouring of new knowledge & research in the field of medicine, including the first use of penicillin by Champ Lyons, M.D., & the expertise he brought to bacteriology & surgery, & the work of Tinsley Harrison, M. D. , I Hematology & blood banking. Another lasting, but not favorite, memory was being on duty at the blood bank when the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed. The blood bank was notified to have O-negative blood ready, but Mrs. Barr watched as the ambulance arrived & learned that blood was not needed because victims had died.
Mrs. Barr was a member of the American Society of Medical Technology, Alabama State Society of Medical Technology, American Association of Blood Banks, Alabama State Association for Clinical Histocompatibility testing, & American Society of Clinical Pathologists. She also served as editor of Alabama Journal of Medical Technology.
She has been active in her community, Vestavia Hills, Alabama, serving as a member of the Planning & Zoning Board, & was the first female president of the city’s Chamber of Commerce in 1988. Mrs. Barr received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 from Leadership Vestavia Hills & the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce.
Mrs. Barr was preceded in death by her husband John W. “Jack” Barr. She is survived by her; daughters: Leslie Young (James) and Nancie Plaia (Sammy); 6 grandchildren; 5 great grandchildren; niece Hilary Parker (John) and her sisters: Rosalie Lockhart and Francine Pergantis
The family will receive friends on Thursday, February 16, 2017 from 9:00 until 10:00 a.m. with the funeral mass following at 10:00 a.m. at St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church. Burial will be private.
The family ask, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Children’s Harbor, Children’s Hospital, St. Rose Academy or charity of your choice. Services are under the direction of Ridout’s Valley Chapel in Homewood.
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