Mary Anne Barbour

Mary Anne died January 3, 2019. She was born in Wilson, NC on October 1, 1932 and was the daughter of the late Harvey Lawrence Baker and Bertha Lucille Cone Baker. Mary Anne was a descendant of many pioneer families of Johnston, Nash, Franklin, and Edgecombe counties. Her grandparents were John Quincy Baker and Cornelia Thompson Baker and Daniel Edward Cone and Mary Dodd Cone. When she was nine years old her family moved to Four Oaks, NC where she grew up and was a member of the Four Oaks High School Class of 1950. Mary Anne always spoke of her love for her small town upbringing and her esteem for its citizens. In 1953 Mary Anne married Marion Durwood Barbour and they moved to Raleigh where they lived for 66 years, the last at the Oaks of Whitaker Glen. They were the proud parents of two sons, Steven Durwood born in 1958 and Ashley Reid in 1960. Mary Anne always had a lifelong desire to learn and pursued knowledge through self study and travel. She loved the English language and was always fascinated with the written word. She was an avid family historian and traced the origins of many maternal and paternal families. Also, she assisted many others with their family research and in 2009 donated a large collection of her work to the Johnston County Heritage Center. Her hobbies were traveling, reading, theater, collecting antiques and playing bridge. Mary Anne worked at Nationwide Insurance Company in the early 1950’s but spent the majority of her working years with the Wake County Public School System. She retired in 1992 as Office Manager for the Department of Special Programs. This was a very important part of her life and she loved her work and the people with whom she worked. Mary Anne was a Methodist and for more than fifty years a member of Longview United Methodist Church. In 1999 she transferred to Edenton Street United Methodist Church where she was a member at the time of her death. She was a member of the Foundry Sunday School Class and United Methodist Women Circle II. She was a lifelong Democrat (proudly) . Visitation will be held Thursday, January 10, at Bryan Lee Funeral Home, 831 Wake Forest Rd, Raleigh, NC 27604 from 6 – 8 pm. Funeral services will be held Friday, January 11, at Edenton Street United Methodist Church 228 W Edenton St, Raleigh, NC 27603 at 2 pm. Burial immediately following in Historic Oakwood Cemetery, 701 Oakwood Ave, Raleigh NC 27601. She was preceded in death by her husband, Marion Durwood Barbour, her parents, her sister Azalee Baker Sain, and her niece Pamela Sain Morton. She is survived by her son Steven Durwood Barbour and wife Phyllis Blackburn Barbour, son Dr. Ashley Reid Barbour, granddaughters Ashley Kristen Barbour and Claire Isley Barbour, brother Lawrence Erick (Butch) Baker and wife Maria Mendez Baker and special niece Victoria (Vicki) Sain Teachey. If anyone wishes to contribute to a memorial please send to the Johnston County Heritage Center, Mary Anne Baker Barbour Collection, PO Box 2709, Smithfield, NC 27577.