Barbara Tenney Parker Gay died on April 26, 2025, in anticipation of a meeting with management about the state of the world. She was born on November 5, 1926, 98 years ago. She attended public schools in Lexington, Mass., then graduated from Simmons College in 1948 and received her master’s in library science from Rutgers University in 1953. She worked for the main library at Yale University, then for special collections at the Yale School of Divinity.
In 1962 Barbara moved with her mother, Dorothy Parker, to Burlington Vt., to be near her brother, Richard, and his wife, Nancy (Moore) Parker. She became head of cataloging at the Bailey/Howe Library at the University of Vermont, retiring in 1992 after overseeing the library’s conversion to computer from card catalog.
Barbara was an active communicant at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Burlington.
She played in bell choirs and sang in regular choirs. She was active in Zonta and PEO service clubs. She drove for Meals on Wheels and made pastoral visits to the sick and elderly. She edited the word lists for the Champlain College charity spelling bees, as well as worked on other public service efforts too numerous to include here! In 1973 Barbara married Olin Butterfield Gay. They were happily married until his death in 1999. She stayed active in the church community, eventually receiving a theological education certificate from the University of the South in 2007.
She is survived by her son and daughter in law, Olin M. and Janet B. Gay; her grandson and granddaughter-in-law, Olin B. and Kyle Evans Gay; two great-granddaughters, Ellen and Alice; her friend and sister-in-law, Nancy M. Parker; nephews, Douglas (Linda) Parker and Daniel Parker; and their many descendants; as well as hordes of friends and acquaintances acquired over a long, full and rewarding life.
We all miss her.
Funeral services will be held on Saturday, May 17, 2025, 11 a.m., at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Burlington, Vt.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the Episcopal Relief & Development fund (episcopalrelief.org; 1-855-312-4325) in her name would be greatly appreciated.
Arrangements are in the care of the Ready Funeral & Cremation Services. To send online condolences, please visit cremationsocietycc.com.
This article appears in May 7-13, 2025.