Deane Kern Barbour

Deane Kern Barbour, of Northfield, died Friday, Dec. 23, 2011, at Three Links Hospice Center, surrounded by her children and grandchildren who were able to express their gratitude for her life. She had been losing strength from pulmonary fibrosis; the last of her family arrived for Christmas four hours earlier.
Deane was the daughter of Everett Deane Kern, a seventh-generation resident of Washington, D.C., and Lena Winn (Dolly) Kern, who came from Tidewater, Va., and later married Milton Pettit after the death of Deane’s father. They lived in Georgetown near Christ Church (Episcopal) and Washington Cathedral, both of which had a lasting influence on her. During her teens Deane was a counselor in summer camps in the mountains, which led her later to spend countless hours enabling others to have similar opportunities.
At Duke University she fell in love with Ian Barbour who had lived or attended schools in Peking, Cincinnati, England and Swarthmore. They were married in Christ Church, Georgetown, and had their first home near the University of Chicago, where she pursued a degree in Religious Education while Ian completed a degree in Nuclear Physics. After four years in Kalamazoo, Mich., where John and Blair were born, they lived in New Haven, Conn., while Ian did graduate work in theology and ethics, and David was born. They moved to Northfield in 1955 where Ian taught in several departments at Carleton and Heather was born in 1960. Deane enjoyed Ian’s sabbatical years in Cambridge, Mass., Berkeley, Calif., Aberdeen, Scotland, and especially two years in Cambridge, England.
Deane continued her dedication to summer camping by asking school teachers and social workers for the names of boys who would particularly benefit from camp experience at Wilderness Canoe Base or elsewhere. She had to persuade the parents and find scholarships, clothing and transportation for them. She was active as a teacher and deacon at the United Church of Christ. Her love of literature was evident in reading to the family, giving books to friends and neighbors, and participating in the Margaret Evans literary club, for which she prepared many thoughtful papers on both classical and contemporary books. She always had a word of encouragement and help for people experiencing hard times, whether old friends or people she had never met.
Deane is survived by her husband, Ian; brother, Charles (Montague) Kern of Washington, D.C.; four children, John (Meg Ojala) of Dundas, Blair of Oak Park, Ill., David of Minneapolis, and Heather (Tom Eberhart) of Arlington, Va.; and three grandchildren in their 20s, Graham and Reed of Dundas, and Alexandra of Oak Park.
She was predeceased by her father and mother; and her beloved sister, Winn (Mrs. Frank Merritt) of Lakeland, Fla.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012, at the United Church of Christ, 300 Union St.
Contributions in her memory may be sent to the church or the Community Action Center at 1651 Jefferson Parkway, Northfield, MN 55057.

Arrangemens by the Bierman Funeral Home of Northfield.