Deb Barber,
Food Pantry Coordinator
& Advocate, set to retire

After the staff-meeting announcement of the April 30 retirement of Deb Barber, Grace organist Greg Upward perhaps summed it up best: "I'm going to miss Deb in the Pantry. It's going to be hard to find someone who advocates so tenaciously for the people served by Grace as she does."

Unlike single-event call-to-action rebuilding after a tornado, fire, or earthquake, hunger happens every day, across every demographic of age, race, and gender.  It's a marathon of an issue, not a sprint.  It requires a continuous cycle of ordering, transporting, stocking, and fund-seeking.

When something stretches out for over 30 years, as the Food Pantry here at Grace has done, it can be easy to see it and yet not see it as something that directly requires the continual attention and care of each and every member of the Grace community. 

With Deb's retirement, the call is now even stronger for us to ensure whoever steps into the role of Pantry Coordinator has both our volunteer and financial support as they learn the ropes of this crucial ministry of Grace Church.   

Thank you, Deb, for your passion, your advocacy, your care-taking.  We hope your retirement brings you many days of relaxation and renewal and as a member of Grace, we hope to be able to continue to grow in our relationship with you for many more years to come.

Name:  Deb McColl Barber

Generation:  Baby Boomer (1946-1964) so love music of Beatles, vintage and updated bluegrass, rock-jazz fusion. Have vivid memories of peace activism during the Vietnam War, urban riots in the 1960s, and demonstrations against Nixon and his policies in 1970s.

Age you are on the inside: at least 8-10 years older than my 57 years, since I always wanted to catch up to older first cousins and was raised by parents 40+ years my senior.

Birth city or where your would say your roots are from:  "Chicagoland" as WGN-TV calls city and suburbs; grew up on west side, then Oak Park and attended Northwestern University in Evanston.  Not only was I born in the Windy City, but my mother, her mother and her grandmother were too.  All that matrilineal line, back to my great-great (Scotland immigrant) are buried in the same cemetery in the city.

Member of Grace since:  2000; attended services starting in late 1990s; sent pantry donations dating back to 1980s once I learned it existed.

Early Bird or Night Owl?  Coordinating the pantry required early hours, lots of rocking music in the car on the way to Grace and Starbucks baristas to get me going.  In retirement, I hope that except when gardening, I can be more night-owlish, stay up past my current bedtime, and sip double expressos reading my Kindle instead of driving-through!

A young Deb Barber enjoys a cruise upon the S. S. Badger.

Favorite childhood memory:  My third birthday, being carried on my tall dad Don McColl's shoulders and surrounded by grandparents, mother Blanche and (later) stepfather George Barber.  Don died a month later - my most bewildering and least favorite memory.  Second favorite memory:  in Cook County court, asked by judge if I knew why I was there and I announced proudly:  "To get ADOPTED!" and my dad's best friend married my mom and all families agreed to him adopting me - so long as adoption didn't erase McColl. 

I knew I was an adult when:  I moved to Madison at age 25 just because I loved it, and without asking anyone older if it was a good idea.

Beloved blog, website or TV/radio program:  Classical music on Wisconsin Public Radio - but can only listen and drive if I've had enough caffeine.  NCIS and the Law & Order franchise are favorites.

In retirement, I hope to hear more classical piano music live.

Favorite humble food to foist on all of your friends:  DH and I like to get our friends to eat with us at Café La Bellitalia on N. Sherman for Sicilian pasta or La Guanajuatence taqueria on Midvale near the Beltline (on weekends they might have tamales).  

Go-to comfort books:  Who is more anglophile than an American Episcopalian?  As such, I love fantasy author Robin McKinley; her The Blue Sword, The Hero and the Crown and recent Chalice are lovely tales with beautiful descriptive writing; her husband is a British children's author and they live in the UK.

When I got a Kindle at Christmastime, I loaded it with childhood classics like Jane Eyre and Louisa May Alcott's Eight Cousins.

#1 item on your Bucket List (Things to do before you "kick the bucket."):  Travel more, further away and for longer stays - ideal retirement goal - from 1960s Civil Rights sites in the South to Hawaii, Alaska, Japan (my husband Rich studied the language), European river cruising and so on.

Physical object that represents passion for your work:  Carts used by the pantry to bring in food deliveries; they are humble instruments, sometimes heavily used, but like Grace volunteers have helped to feed thousands of people for many years.

What is your first memory of God?  I learned in Episcopal Sunday school how to make an altar at home, used it, and felt like the upside-down shoebox with doilie for altar cloth was a place I could go and feel the Holy Spirit.

What inspires you?  Pastoral care and non-profit work done behind the scenes where only God and a handful of people know its impact.

One thing no one would guess about you:  For about 18 months I styled my hair, dressed for success and analyzed litigation documents for a law firm on the 81st floor of the Sears Tower as a paralegal.  Happily, in Madison and the University of Wisconsin, casual dress is the rule.

Why Grace?  Growing up, my family was deeply committed to Episcopal Charities of Chicago.  My mother was a 1950s volunteer secretary to Canon Gibson of The Cathedral Shelter.  (See http://www.cathedralshelter.org/publications/ourname.) Decades later in their 80s, my parents joined their parish in bringing dinners for the men of the halfway house, St. Leonard's.  As a teenager, I did not recognize the Episcopalians I knew when hearing the epithet "God's Frozen People" or "frozen chosen."  Episcopalians are engaged and caring.  So as an adult, I know for that outreach embodies true faith and makes Christ real in the world.  In the Madison portion of the Milwaukee Diocese, Grace is one of the only places where outreach to those in need and worship happen in the same place.  So it was natural for me to claim it as a spiritual home, and although retiring as Grace Pantry Coordinator, I remain a parishioner.

 - Jody 

In God's Service