This memorial website was created in memory of our beautiful, spirited and hard working mother, Barbara Bishop Bartle, née Barbara Sinclair Bishop, who was born on March 21, 1927 and died on February 9, 2016.
 
Memorial Service: 2:00 PM Saturday, 5 March 2016, Trinity Episcopal Church, 88 Walker Street, Lenox, MA

Reception to follow at The Gateways Inn, 51 Walker St., Lenox, MA

Contributions in her name may be made to The Lenox Library, http://lenoxlib.org/support-the-library/giving/ or Trinity Church, 88 Walker Street, Lenox, MA 01240. 

Obituary:

Resident of Cambridge, MA, formerly of Lee and Lenox, MA, and New York City and East Hampton, NY, Barbara Bishop Bartle died peacefully on February 9 surrounded by her children and caregivers. Barbara was the wife of the late Stuart Hall Bartle, M.D., daughter of the late Kathleen Sinclair Bishop and Louis Faugères Bishop, Jr., M.D., and sister of Anne Bishop Cannon of Vero Beach FL, the late Louis Faugères Bishop III and Mary Bishop Millspaugh. In addition to her sister Anne, she is survived by her children Christopher Hall (Eva Gardner), Andrew Bishop (Mary Davidson), Elizabeth Dowling (David Boghossian), Marion Stuart (John Packs), 11 grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. She was educated at Miss Hewitt’s School (’45), Radcliffe College (A.B.’49), and the University of Virginia (M.A., History ’68). Barbara, a/k/a “Bish,” “B’kins” and “Grandmère,” brought her modesty, charm and an easy elegance, as well as her strong work ethic and high integrity to every part of her life. She was devoted to her husband, family, friends, colleagues and students, to whom she showed unstinting generosity, and a playful, keen, dry sense of humor.

At Miss Hewitt’s School, Barbara was President of the Student Council and a champion fencer. After graduating from Radcliffe, Barbara married Stuart and moved to Charlottesville, VA, where she raised four children, and earned her M.A. She became active in the Civil Rights Movement, continuing a lifelong dedication to social issues beginning with her thesis on Reconstruction, her later work on the Harlem Renaissance, and her long-term volunteer efforts with the League of Women Voters. Returning to New York, NY in 1966, Barbara worked with radio host Casper Citron; graduated from Columbia University Teachers College; and taught history at the Chapin School for 14 years. In 1986, Barbara and Stuart moved to Zimbabwe where she taught history at the Roosevelt Girls High School in Harare. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1988 and relocating full-time to Lee, MA, Barbara taught history at Berkshire Community College in Great Barrington, lecturing on the history of the Underground Railroad and W.E.B. DuBois. A natural writer, in 2006 she published her memoir, A Vanished World: Growing up in the Thirties and Forties in New York and East Hampton. She was an active member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Lenox, Lenox Garden Club, Mahkeenac Boat Club, the Bluestockings, and the Cosmopolitan Club in New York. Barbara was an elegant tennis player, dedicated gardener, raconteur, political activist, and later in life, a beloved grandmother.

Memorial Service: 2:00pm Saturday, March 5, Trinity Episcopal Church, Lenox, MA. Contributions in her name: Lenox Library, http://lenoxlib.org/support-the-library/giving/ or Trinity Church, 88 Walker Street, Lenox, 01240.

Thoughts may be left at: http://www.forevermissed.com/barbara-bishop-bartle