Roberta Barr

Roberta Armstrong Barr may not have had any children of her own, but her life’s work had a lasting impact on thousands of the community’s children in an educational career that lasted more than 40 years. A teacher, school principal, community leader and philanthropist, Barr died Friday at Mercy Regional Medical Center. She was 99. Barr, who lived in the valley for much of her life, received her own education at the one-room schoolhouse at Hermosa before graduating with the Class of 1931 from Durango High School. She went on to earn her teaching certificate after attending two years at the old Hesperus campus of Fort Lewis College. She eventually would earn her bachelor’s degree in education and master’s in public school administration from Western State College in Gunnison. Her career began in small, one-room schoolhouses in La Plata County, including her own alma mater at Hermosa and Falfa on the Florida Mesa. The schools later were consolidated into Durango School District 9-R. “She would talk about building the fire and keeping it going, one of many things she had to do in those little schoolhouses,” Shock said. “It got easier when she started teaching in town.” While teaching at Falfa, Barr met Robert Morris Barr, who was farming on his family’s land. The couple married in 1941, moving to her family’s property in the Animas Valley in 1947, where Barr continued to live until her death. After a number of years at Smiley Junior High School, where she taught geography, English and health, Barr was appointed principal of Mason Elementary School. “Park Elementary was deemed too small to have a principal of its own,” said Judy Michalski, former director of curriculum for 9-R. “So she took it on, too.” But because of her love of teaching, Barr didn’t just administer the school. “We were kind of a test school,” said Michelle (Klein) Hover, who attended Mason in the 1960s. “I remember that she brought new math in, then she taught it to us. Her husband kept bees, and one time she brought in a hive so we could see what the bees do. Then she gave us each a piece of honeycomb to chew on.” Michalski said Barr’s favorite activity as principal was organizing and putting on the school’s operetta each year. “Getting students ready, making sure it was a highquality production really mattered to her,” Michalski said. “It took months, and she was working with little elementary kids, so to keep their attention for that long was a real challenge.” After her retirement in 1979, Barr and her husband founded the Robert M. Barr & Roberta Armstrong Barr Foundation, which gives scholarships to students who are preparing to become teachers at both FLC and Western State. To date, the foundation has given away about $300,000 and 120 scholarships. “She wanted to influence future teachers,” her friend Rod Humble said. “And she was always a teacher. One time, a Durango Herald reporter showed up to interview her and was chewing gum. Roberta politely pushed the wastebasket over and said, ‘Get rid of your gum, and then we’ll continue.’” The foundation is now endowed so it will give scholarships in perpetuity, he said. Barr’s extensive involvement in the community led to numerous honors. La Plata County named the bridge near her home the Barr Bridge, and Animas Valley Elementary School named the trail that circles it the Roberta Barr Trail. Two different times she was named Homemaker of the Year in La Plata County, and Barr was also once named the grand marshal of the Fiesta Days Parade. An active member of the Animas Valley Grange, she was awarded her 65-year pin in June and was named an Outstanding Granger by the Colorado Grange in 2009. “She probably held every job there is in the grange,” Shock said. “She was always anxious to help however she could.” In her younger years, Barr did a lot of sewing and embroidery, also shooting several award-winning photographs. An avid gardener, she was a longtime member of the Animas Valley Garden Club. In 1999, her garden was featured in Better Homes and Gardens’ Flower Gardening issue. “Her rose garden to this day is still a beautiful creation,” Hover said. In the winter, her yard blazed with Christmas lights. “She was like a little kid,” Michalski said. “She always had that childlike spirit and excitement around the holidays.” In the end, it’s Roberta Barr the educator who will have left the most lasting legacy. “When we were kids, it was such a different era,” Hover said. “She was such a vibrant woman, and I thought it was so cool that a woman was in her position. Her example inspired me, to know that women could do something like that.”
(taken from the Durango Herald, Sunday, December 21, 2013 by Ann Butler)