Lorraine Perry Barnett Bashor

Lorraine Perry Barnett Bashor ("Lorrie") passed away peacefully at home in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Saturday, September 24, 2016. She was born July 30, 1928, in New Haven, Connecticut, second child of Charles Russell and Helen Dudley Barnett. She graduated from New Haven High in 1946, attended Mary Washington College, and was a 1951 graduate of the University of Connecticut with a degree in English and Speech. She taught 1st grade and was a laboratory assistant at Yale Medical School, before marrying Philip Slosson Bashor ("Phil") of Los Angeles, California, on December 23, 1954, in Batelle Chapel at Yale University. Lorrie and Phil made their first home in Portland, Oregon, where Phil taught philosophy at Lewis and Clark College. When Phil accepted a position at the University of Arkansas in 1960, they moved sight unseen to Fayetteville, which they came to love and where they lived happily for their remaining years. While her first love and interest was always raising her children, she was perennially involved in community service activities in Northwest Arkansas. In the 1960's she worked for the Office of Economic Opportunity for a time, and volunteered to work with at-risk mothers for SCAN (Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect). She taught reading to preschoolers at the St. James Methodist day care center, and worked with the School District, local churches, and leaders in African American community toward successfully integrating the Fayetteville elementary schools. In the 1970's she served as president of the local chapter of the American Field Service student exchange program, facilitating her children's study abroad years and hosting Arthur Schipper of the Netherlands, who became her dear "fourth son." She also hosted several foreign students attending the University, including Pone Dieudonne of Cameroon. She managed the family swimming school for 17 summers, and found time to research the family genealogy on both sides. She was an active member of the First United Presbyterian Church. After Phil's death in 1995, she traveled abroad to the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, England, New Zealand, and Ivory Coast. She served on the regional Hospice Board and as President of the Memorial Society of Northwest Arkansas, and undertook to document the history of the St James Methodist Church as the oldest continually used church in Fayetteville. At all times, she loved managing the next house or yard project, tending her courtyard garden, and luring birds to the back porch. She was preceded in death by her husband of 40 years, Professor Philip Slosson Bashor; older brother Charles Russell Barnett, Jr.; and younger brother Frederick Dudley Barnett. Survivors include three sons, Christen Robert Bashor of St Paul, Minnesota, Dr. Kendrick Barnett Bashor and wife Sheila Keefe Bashor of Akron, Ohio, and Theodore Philip Bashor and wife Jeanine Schmitz of Seattle, Washington; younger brother Franklin Dudley Barnett of Westerville, Ohio; sisters-in-law Janet Holdridge Barnett and Ora Belle Holdridge Barnett; five grandchildren, Jonathan Philip, Abigail Claire, Kendrick Benjamin, Ellen Getelle, and Laura Allaire Bashor; and four nieces and seven nephews. Committal will be beside her beloved husband in the columbarium of the First United Presbyterian Church of Fayetteville, Arkansas, after a family ceremony. Memorials may be made to the Philip S. Bashor Scholarship, University of Arkansas Foundation, 325 Administration Building, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 72701. To sign the online guest book please visit www.nelsonberna.com.