Louise Ivins Hunn Barker, 93, passed away on March 7, 2015. Louise was a long time Winchester resident and kindergarten teacher, who was memorable for her love of children and her house-broken rabbit in the classroom. After graduating from Smith College in 1942, she joined the WAVES as a cryptologist. She and her husband, Ed, laughed about the fact that she outranked him in the military. Following the war, she and Ed returned to college on the GI Bill, getting their second degrees. She was married for 68 years to Edward Barker, until his death in September 2011. They were the parents of seven children; Hope, Townsend, Faith, Martin, Patience, Prudence and Mark. She was predeceased by her son Martin. They were grandparents of 17, great-grandparents of eleven. Upon retirement, her passion was teaching children to love animals including insects and reptiles. Visitors to her home could handle her snakes, Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches or assorted arachnids including a tarantula. She was an active volunteer at the Stone Zoo, Franklin Park Zoo, Winchester Trails and Peabody Museum. She had a life-long love of learning. Gifted in languages, she spoke French and Spanish, and studied Italian, German, Greek, Farsi, and Egyptian hieroglyphics. In her late 70’s she learned to use the computer and became a genealogy expert. Louise and Ed loved traveling around the world, biking on trips with their grandchildren until their early 80’s. She had a competitive spirit, playing Bridge and Scrabble until her last year. Her sense of humor and friendliness endeared her to many friends.
A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, March 14 at 2PM at the Winchester Unitarian Church, 478 Main St. Relatives and friends are kindly invited to attend. In lieu of flowers, donations in Louise’s memory may be made to Zoo New England and sent to Development Office, Zoo New England, 1 Franklin Park Rd., Boston, MA 02121 or visit www.zoonewengland.org.