wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Dottie Barnard, ex-moderator, dies at 78

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Note #8146 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

04110
February 26, 2004

Dottie Barnard, ex-moderator, dies at 78

Mission advocate, ecumenist succumbs to pancreatic cancer

by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE - Dorothy G. "Dottie" Barnard, a tireless advocate for
Presbyterian mission around the world and moderator of the 1981 General
Assembly of the former Presbyterian Church in the United States, died on Feb.
25 at her home in St. Louis of pancreatic cancer. She was 78.

	A native of St. Louis, Barnard graduated from Washington University
there, and, after a brief stint as a schoolteacher in Houston, devoted her
life to church work, mostly as a volunteer.

	An longtime elder and educator at Des Peres Presbyterian Church in
Clayton, MO, Barnard also was heavily involved in women's ministry and
educational mission for the then-Presbytery of Southeast Missouri and Synod
of Mid-America, where she served for six years as the synod's "regional
communicator," interpreting the mission of the Presbyterian Church to
thousands of church members.

	Later, she served the General Assembly as a member and chair of the
Board of Women's Work, as secretary of the Council on Church and Society, as
vice-chair of the PCUS' General Executive Board and as moderator of the 121st
PCUS General Assembly in 1981, just prior to Presbyterian reunion in 1983.

	As a mission interpreter, Barnard traveled on behalf of the church to
more than 37 countries. She was a committed ecumenist, serving a delegate to
the 1964 World Alliance of Reformed Churches General Council in Germany, and
for years in the 1980s and 1990s as a member and leader of the Presbyterian
Church (USA) delegation to the Consultation on Church Union.

	Barnard was also active in Presbyterian Women and Church Women United
(CWU)for many years. In 1980 she was received the "Valiant Woman" award form
CWU and in 1998 was honored as a "Woman of Faith" award-winner by the
PC(USA).

	Although semi-retired in recent years, Barnard continued on the
boards of several children's agencies in St. Louis and was director of
missions at St. Luke's Hospital there, which is owned by the Giddings-Lovejoy
Presbytery and the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri.

	She is survived by her husband, Gene R. Barnard; three adult
daughters, Susan, Lynn and Cindy; and two grandchildren. Services are
scheduled for Feb. 28 - which would have been her 79th birthday - at Ladue
Chapel Presbyterian Church in suburban St. Louis.

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