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Barbara “Bobbie” Stuart Hartley Lord died on April 30, with her family beside her. She was 92.
Born on July 28, 1923, she grew up in Southampton with her parents, George Inness Hartley and Agnes de Montpellier Hartley, who predeceased her, as did her brother George. Her sister Marguerite (Bebs) survives in New York City. Ms. Lord was a direct descendant of 19th century painter George Inness.
Ms. Lord went to Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia, graduating in 1941, and went on to become a housemother and secretary to the founder of Foxcroft, Charlotte Haxall Noland, a dear friend and mentor. Foxcroft honored Ms. Lord last month with its Distinguished Alumna Award.
She married James Couper Lord in Southampton in 1948 at St. Andrew’s Dune Church, to which she and her family were devoted. They moved to Buffalo, where she raised her family for more than 30 years and where their four children James Couper Lord Jr., Mary-Louise, Barbara Hartley and Ruth. In Buffalo, she served on the boards of Buffalo General Hospital and Elmwood Franklin School, was an active member of Trinity Church and was president of the Garrett Club.
Ms. Lord and her husband retired to Southampton in 1980 where she continued her community work. She was president of the Southampton Nursing Home, a position she held for more than 25 years, was devoted to St. Andrew’s Dune Church, where she served as head of the Altar Guild until she retired at age 90 and was appointed trustee emeritus, and was president of the Southampton Garden Club, for which she supervised numerous flower competitions and presided at a Garden Club of America zone meeting on the very day that her fifth granddaughter was born. Upon retiring from the Southampton Garden Club, she was honored to receive the Garden Club of America’s Medal of Merit in recognition of her “inspirational and wise leadership.” For many years she served as an active member of the Village Improvement Association of Southampton, a local organization founded even before the incorporation of Southampton Village.
Survivors said she was a beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, and she taught her children life’s lessons of compassion for others and working within one’s community. Her “understanding heart”and empathy for the less fortunate was a gift she bequeathed to everyone about her, regardless of where she lived.
She was predceased by a son, James Couper Lord Jr.; and a daugther, Ruth Lord. She is survived by a daughter, Mary-Louise Lord Gillespie and husband David and Barbara Hartley Lord Edwards and husband Jim; five granddaughters, whom she called her “pearls,” Hartley Gillespie Wenger, Lorrie Edwards, Eleanor Gillespie Strumolo, Caroline Cook Edwards, Courtney Matson Edwards; and six great-grandchildren, Noah, Walter, Henry, Jack, Sophie, and Lily, all of whom celebrated her 92nd birthday together.
A memorial service will be held in July at St. Andrew’s Dune Church in Southampton.
Memorial donations may be made to St. Andrew’s Dune Church, Box 1245,
Southampton, NY 11969; St. John’s Episcopal Church, Box 5068
Southampton, NY 11969; or the J. Couper Lord Jr. Dialysis Fund at Southampton Hospital, southamptonhospital.org.
on May 2, 2016