Former United Church deacon Marilyn “Pat” Barnes from RVC dies at 84

Longtime Rockville Centre resident Marilyn “Pat” Barnes, a former deacon at United Church who enjoyed sewing and the great outdoors, died on Feb. 1 at age 84.

Barnes was born in Rockville Centre on March 17, 1932, to the late Frederick Roberts and Hazel Downes Ackley and earned the nickname “Pat” because of her St. Patrick’s Day birthday. She graduated from Dean College in Franklin, Mass., and met her husband Cassius Bartlett Barnes, Jr., shortly thereafter when they both worked at Prentice Hall Publishing in New York City. The couple married in 1953.

Barnes was later a longtime employee of Educational Activities in Baldwin, where she served as the head of its purchasing department. Due to her disdain of computers, Barnes kept the company’s inventory in pencil and on pads of paper, personally counting by hand all of the items in the company’s warehouse.

When she was not working, Barnes could be found at United Church, where she was one of its longest standing members. She was active on the board of trustees and served as the church’s treasurer for many years. She was a deacon and also participated in the Women’s Fellowship, the Mr. and Mrs. Club, and assisted with shows put on by the Men’s Club, which was directed by her husband. Her creativity as a seamstress was put to good use as she made the liturgical banners for the church’s sanctuary.

Barnes made the banners on the Singer sewing machine she owned since the mid-1950s. She also made numerous articles of every day and special-occasion clothing for her family such as slipcovers, coats, drapes, children’s toys. She shared her passion for sewing by teaching Saturday lessons through the Baldwin Parks and Recreation Department for several years in the 1960s. She enjoyed needlepoint and knitting and all of her remaining family members own her afghans and needlepoint creations that adorn their walls. When she ran out of family to sew and knit for, she started her own craft business, PB Creations.

Barnes was an avid traveler and went on many adventures. She spent spring break in the Okefenokee Swamp near the Georgia-Florida state line in 1975 and later hiked in Yosemite National Park in California and rafted on the Colorado River. There, she sailed through the Grand Canyon and down the Rio Grande. She also visited Europe several times, enjoyed a cruise in Alaska, and drove from Long Island to Canada.

One of Barnes’ more memorable trips was a circuitous drive to Oklahoma City, which was partly made to visit the historic home of Cassius McDonald Barnes, a governor of the Oklahoma Territory and her husband’s grandfather. In 1990, she visited Japan for the yearly conference of Soroptomist International, a philanthropic businesswomen’s organization that she belonged for many years.

She sold her house on Pine Street in 2015 after living there for 48 years and moved to Virginia Beach, Va., to be with her daughter, Kathy Fenton and the remainder of her family. She had just moved to The Gardens of Virginia Beach, an assisted living facility, at the time of her passing to be close to the homes of her daughter and grandchildren.

Barnes is predeceased by her husband, son Thomas Gray Barnes, who was a longtime member of the village Fire Department as the chief of Floodlight, sister Carol Ackley Vetter and brother Frederick “Ted” Roberts Ackley, Jr.

She is survived by her daughter, Kathy Fenton, and three grandchildren; Barbara Dennis, Sarah Harris and Scotty Fenton. She also had two great-grandchildren; Katelyn Steide and Wesley Harris.

A Celebration of Life ceremony will be held in her memory at the United Church on April 29 at 11 a.m. The family is encouraging anyone that knew her to attend. Donations in her memory may be made to the United Church of Rockville Centre, 430 Morris Ave., Rockville Centre, N.Y., 11570. Anyone wishing to do so may express their condolences at www.HollomanBrown.com.