Barbara Groner Spicer died peacefully at Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River on Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016. She was born in Norfolk, Va. on June 9, 1924, the first child of Sarah Day McKinney of Augusta, Ky. and John Vaughan Groner of Norfolk, Va. After a few years in Washington, D.C., she spent her childhood on the shores of the Hudson River north of New York City, first in Hasting-on-Hudson and then in Irvington. She graduated from Dana Hall in Wellesley in 1942 and began higher education pursuing aeronautical engineering at the University of Michigan. After a memorable year working at Tolman Farm in Nelson, NH, she resumed her studies with landscape architecture, graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1948. 

During those years in Providence, Barbara met her future husband, Edward Sheldon Spicer, Jr. They married in 1948, moved to Barrington, and had four children between 1949 and 1955: Peter, Sandy, Chris, and Richard. All were attendees of the Barrington Congregational Church. Family life was rich with many musical and outdoor activities including sailing, skiing, hiking, and camping, with special love for places in northern New England mountains and southern New England shores.

In the 1970s and 80s Barbara studied for and began working as a school librarian, including leading the library at Gordon School in East Providence. She also worked in a sewing shop and crafted many beautiful items. With Shellie, she loved to go square dancing and birding, and they especially enjoyed beloved summer stays at the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Three-Mile Island camp on Lake Winnipesaukee. They joyously celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1998. Following Shellie’s death in Dec. 2000, she decided in 2005 to move to Sakonnet Bay Manor in Tiverton, where she has since resided and enjoyed the beautiful sunsets over Mount Hope Bay.

Barbara was a grandmother of five – Danny, Suzanne, and Tim Donahue (children of Sandy and Frank), and Holly and Kristi Spicer (daughters of Chris and Kitty Hay). She became a proud great-grandmother in 2015 with Todd McKeever, Suzanne’s first son. In fact, one of her most favorite people, her own "Gram," inspired her to become a much beloved grandmother herself.

Barbara will be missed for her love of and devotion to family and community; her creativity and artistic skills; her passion for reading, politics, and deep conversation; her curiosity about the unknown — seeking the life journey and its aftermath; and for her handsome sweaters and colorful baseball caps! Never mincing words in observation, she wanted us all to be stable and happy, to use our minds well, and to be gracious and generous to others.

All are welcome to attend her interment at Forest Chapel Cemetery in Barrington at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 22, and the reception following at the parish hall of Barrington Congregational Church at 4:15 p.m. Donations in her memory may be made to the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, 12 Sanderson Road, Smithfield, RI 02917. For further information and opportunity to share condolences, please visit hathawayfunerals.com. All arrangements have been entrusted to the care of the Hathaway Home for Funerals, 1813 Robeson Street, Fall River.