Marianna Barber

Marianna Brown Barber, 91, passed away Tuesday, May 10, 2022, at her home in Louisville, Kentucky. She was born July 7, 1930, to the late Joseph Bernard and Olivia Ditter Brown. On August 4, 1956, she married Ike Thurman Barber, who preceded her in death December 15, 2012.

She graduated from Collegiate High School in Louisville and was president of her senior class. After attending Trinity College in Washington, D.C., for two years, she transferred to Vanderbilt University where she joined Kappa Alpha Theta Fraternity for women and graduated with a business degree and minor in English. While working for her father, J.B., at Brown & Moore accounting, she attended night classes at University of Louisville, qualifying for a Ford Scholarship to Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development for a master’s degree in education with an emphasis in social studies.

Marianna taught for several years before marrying Ike. Four months after their wedding, they moved to Mexico City where he worked for British American Tobacco Company. She gave birth to all their six children while living in Mexico. The family lived in Mexico, Chile and Costa Rica before retiring to Bradenton, Florida in 1979.

She was a dedicated volunteer and member of the Junior League in Louisville, Mexico City and Bradenton. In Chile, she was the women’s Volunteer Coordinator of Charity Work at the American Embassy. Her time given to literacy and health care programs for impoverished families in Latin American helped her keep her values straight. She believed volunteerism was indispensable to the social welfare of communities and considered her volunteer hours to be as binding as a work contract.

Ike and Marianna moved to Miami in 2010. After Ike died, she continued to live with her daughter Rebecca until 2017, when she moved back to Louisville to live at Treyton Oaks with her sister, Jane. During COVID, she remained in Louisville, living with her daughter Olivia Jane.

Marianna is survived by her sister, Jane Brown Murphy; two daughters, Olivia Jane B. Richardson and Rebecca Barber Brown; four sons and their wives, Richard B. L. and Elizabeth Barber, A. Rodman and Cynthia Barber, Samuel and Christy Barber, Michael and Patty Barber; 12 grandchildren, Matthew (Rosalyn) Barber and Rachel (Sean) Beasley, George (Whitney) Richardson and Marianna Richardson, Sophia Barber and Austin Barber, Joseph (Julie) Barber and Richard T. Barber, Nicole Barber and Isaac Barber, Karra Brown and Lucas Brown; and seven great-grandchildren, Camden and Emmaline Barber; Levi, Liam and Lane Beasley; Felix and Foster Richardson; and many nieces, nephews and friends. She was preceded in death by a son-in-law, Owen Brown.

Visitation will take place from 5 to 7 p.m., Friday, June 10, at Rattermans Funeral Home St. Matthews, 3711 Lexington Road, Louisville. The funeral service will take place at the funeral home at 10 a.m., Saturday, June 11, with burial to follow at Calvary Cemetery, 1600 Newburg Road, Louisville.

In lieu of flowers, Marianna requested memorial contributions to the Passionist Earth & Spirit Center,

1924 Newburg Road, Louisville, KY 40205 (EarthandSpiritCenter.org), or the Family Community Clinic, 1420 E. Washington St., Louisville, KY 40206 (www.famcomclinic.org).