Martha Barber

Martha Barber, 90, of Little Rock, died Monday, June 14, 2010. She was born March 28, 1920, the daughter of A.L. and Laura Harton Barber in Little Rock, Arkansas. She was preceded in death by her parents, a sister, Rebecca Barber Sadler and a brother, Vincent Harton Barber. She attended the Little Rock schools, graduated from Little Rock Central High, and studied at Hendrix College two years. She then completed her degree in psychology at Syracuse University, which was also her father's alma mater. During World War II, she lived in Washington D.C., working for the nation's war-time intelligence agency, the office of Strategic Services. Her strong desire to see and experience this world as much as possible led her to "invent" her own career which she called "Exploration, Learning and Adventure." This involved travel, living in a variety of interesting places, study (emphasis on art and history), teaching, writing and illustrating. She lived three years in New Mexico, eight years in Northern California, two years in Germany, three years in France, one year in Spain and the island of Majorca, summers on the Greek Islands, Christmases in Austria's Tyralean Alps and trips to every European country. During all this exploring she always kept at least one heartstring tied to Little Rock, and returned often to visit her family and old friends. After about twenty years, she settled in Little Rock having received two graduate degrees in New Mexico and U of A in Fayetteville. She joined the Art faculty at UALR and worked also as a producing and exhibiting artist. Over the next twelve years her work was included in many competitive shows, including the Delta annual exhibit at the Arkansas Arts Center, the Mid-South exhibit in Memphis and numerous other important exhibits. Her innovative work in three dimensional canvases resulted in the invitation to exhibit two of her canvases in the national show, "Paintings Out from the Wall" in Des Moines, Iowa. As a member of the UALR Art faculty, Miss Barber taught painting, design, art history and designed sets and costumes for OPERA-UALR under the direction of Blanche Thebons. Her work is represented in many permanent collections including: The Arkansas Arts Center, The Historic Arkansas Art Museum, The National Bank of Commerce in Memphis, Worthen Bank (now Bank of America), Hendrix College, Lyon College, UALR and numerous private collections. Miss Barber was a firm supporter of The Arkansas Community Foundation which offers grants to charities and scholarships throughout Arkansas. She has established a fund, "the Martha Barber Animal Welfare" fund to aid animal welfare groups in Arkansas and perpetuity. She is survived by two nephews, four nieces and many dear cousins. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, June 17, 2010 in the chapel of Ruebel Funeral Home. A burial of ashes will follow at Roselawn Memorial Park. Arrangements by Ruebel Funeral Home, www.ruebelfuneralhome.com.