Galen Lane Barbour

Galen Lane Barbour, 82, of Alexandria Virginia died on December 29, 2023 surrounded by family. He was born in Denison, Texas in 1941 to Robert and Clorine Barbour. His family relocated to Riverdale, North Dakota where he spent his childhood. He attended the University of North Dakota for a year before transferring to Little Rock University (now the University of Arkansas at Little Rock) where he was the first person to graduate with a pre-med degree. In 1961, he matriculated to the University of Arkansas Medical School. Upon graduation, he completed his internship at Akron General Hospital and then joined the Air Force. As a captain, he was stationed at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas where he received a Commendation Medal for improving healthcare delivery. He returned to Little Rock to complete his residency and nephrology fellowship in 1968.

He had an illustrious career over the past several decades. In 1970, he joined the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Little Rock where he served as the director of the Hemodialysis Unit. He was an American College of Physicians traveling scholar in Oxford, England in 1974. In 1980, he moved to Newport News, VA and became the Chief of Medicine at the Hampton VA Medical Center. He left Hampton in 1990 to become the Associate Chief Medical Director for Quality Management for the Veterans Health Administration in Washington, DC. In 1995, he became the Director of Planning, Education and Performance Improvement at the Washington DC VAMC. He retired from the Veteran’s Administration in August 2000 and promptly joined the Uniformed Services University Health Sciences as the Director of the Division of Health Services Administration. He worked there over a decade before retiring for the final time. He wrote several non-fiction books on quality improvement during his career and in his retirement, he began writing medical mysteries.

He was always active in his church, teaching bible studies, classes or doing premarital counseling. He also served as an elder at several different congregations over the course of many years. When he wasn’t working, he enjoyed reading and was usually reading 3 or more books at a time. He was an avid gardener and grew tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers every summer until he and his wife moved into a condominium in Alexandria. In 2005, he met a life goal of becoming a season ticket holder of a MLB team, the Washington Nationals. He had those tickets until the Nationals won the World Series in 2019.

He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Carolyn G. Barbour and three adult children. April L. Barbour, MD; Robert G. Barbour (Maura); and John R. Barbour, MD (English). His daughter, Jennifer Biller (Jerry), predeceased him in 2020. He is survived by nine grandchildren, Maeve Barbour, Ann Barbour, Henry Barbour, James Barbour, Virginia Biller, Julia Biller, Braxton Biller, Will Barbour and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Barbour. He is also survived by his brother, Duane Barbour.

In lieu of flowers, donations to Predisan or Christian Relief Fund would be appreciated.