EMILY J. BARFIELD
April 3, 1931-May 11, 2010
Emily Jane Barfield passed away peacefully Tuesday with all her children at her side.
From 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, the family will host a gathering for visitation and remembrance at their former home in Fremont at 104 N. Pine St., across from Shackleford-Howell Funeral Home, which is assisting the family with the arrangements.
She was born April 3, 1931, in Reynoldsville, Pa., to G. Kermit and Dorothy Ellenberger.
While both were serving in the United States Air Force, Emily met Dillon Barfield Sr. of Goldsboro, to whom she was married for 44 years until his passing in 1997.
Emily was a strong-willed, independent and active woman. She was a lifelong gardener whose favorite flowers were Bearded Iris, and she was an avid reader.
With her husband she started a candle-making business, where she specialized in creating sculpture candles from sand, wax and driftwood.
Later she found her greatest passion, rescue and rehabilitation of injured and orphaned wildlife. In Pikeville, she founded Emily's Ark, where, in the course of some 15 years, she and many volunteers nursed and nurtured thousand of birds, squirrels, raccoons, possum and other wildlife to be released back into the wild. There, and in the schools she visited frequently, she educated both children and adults to care for, and to care about, wild animals.
Emily specialized in the rehabilitation of injured birds of prey and made a significant contribution to the re-establishment of many species of hawks and owls in our area. We will think of her every time we look up and see a beautiful and proud hawk, wheeling and floating on the breeze.
She is survived by her six children, Vern Barfield Sells, Dillon Barfield II, Richard Edward Barfield, Lora Barfield Getsinger, Glenn Alton Barfield and Emily Barfield Pullen; 12 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her brother Mike Ellenberger; her husband; and a special granddaughter, Marie Gray.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Emily J. Barfield to the Carolina Raptor Center, P.O. Box 16443, Charlotte, N.C., 28297. If you do send flowers, we hope your florist can provide Irises to decorate our old home, where the flowers Emily planted years ago have bloomed, and for this year at least have passed away.
Condolences may be posted at www.shackleford-howell.com.
(Pd)
Published in Obituaries on May 14, 2010 1:47 PM