Bridgehampton resident Martha Belvadine Barnard died on January 10 at the Wellstar Community Hospice in Austell, Georgia, after a short illness. She was 64.
Born on February 29, 1944, to Martha and William Carl Johnson of Pasquotank County, North Carolina, she joined Galilee Baptist church of Weeksville, North Carolina, at an early age and remained an active member until moving to Bridgehampton in 1970.
In Bridgehampton, she joined the First Baptist Church, then under the leadership of the late Reverend Lawrence Jackson. She was an active member of the church’s Senior Usher Board, serving as a past president and treasurer. According to survivors, she was also a dependable member of the culinary department at the church until her death.
She worked for many years as a domestic for numerous local families. She also worked at Grants Department Store and was most recently employed by the Acme Bus Company in Westhampton.
Survivors said last week that those who knew her will always remember her willingness to help others with either a kind word or deed, her love for talking on the telephone and most of all her scrumptious sweet potato pies that she baked faithfully for her church family, friends and the Bridgehampton School’s annual Thanksgiving Day feast. Her giving spirit will be missed by all, they said.
She is survived by two sons and their wives, Carl A. and Lillian Johnson of Bridgehampton, and Robert F. and Nicole Hopson of Florida; a daughter, Brenda F. Brown of Georgia; three sisters and their husbands, Lillie and Octavious Billups of Southampton, Roxie and George Harney of Hampton Bays and Beverly and Rufus Hopson of Florida; two brothers and their wives, John and Donna Johnson of Bridgehampton and Larry and Joanne Johnson of Riverhead; and five grandchildren, Shana Boston, Danielle Boston, Davin Johnson, Tara Brown and Kaialani Hopson.
She is also survived by a special friend, William Ray Banks; a brother-in-law, James Robinson; and a host of nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.
Four sisters, Ernestine Lilly, Ethel Banks, Brenda Robinson and Margaret Johnson, and two brothers, William Carl Johnson and Melvin Lee Johnson, predeceased her.
A viewing and funeral service were held on January 17 at the First Baptist Church of Bridgehampton. Interment followed at Edgewood Cemetery, also in Bridgehampton.
on Jan 28, 2009