Ardith Arlene Barron

Arlene was born in Spring City, Tennessee, the second youngest of five sisters. Their mom moved them, five women, to Groveton, Texas, and re-married. Arlene was the fastest tree-climber in her town, male or female. She graduated as valedictorian of her high school, and lacking opportunities for college, soon left for Houston to make her way.

Arlene was an original feminist, turning away many suitors attracted to her beauty, buying her own “wedding” china and silver piece by piece, while taking classes and working as a dental hygienist. She also worked as a governess for the Finger Furniture family, and met her future husband, Otis Alton “Jim” Barron, when he was visiting the family on a date with one of the Finger family daughters.

At age 23, Arlene married Jim, and they were in love until he passed away after a brief illness from pancreatic cancer at the age of 95 in 2018. In 1962, Arlene and Jim built a home in Sugarland, Texas, on land he had bought via the GI Bill. They raised their two children, Cherie and Alton, there before moving full-time to their home on Lake Travis in the late 80’s.

Arlene volunteered in countless ways while raising their children. Her chicken salad sandwiches, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies were always the first to sell out at the Little League baseball and football games and swim meets. Once their son Alton was in high school, Arlene went back to work as a librarian for Nalco Chemical Company in Sugarland, and she loved that job. Her photographic memory astonished anyone who knew her well or worked with her.

Arlene was reserved, but always listened and remembered every word of a conversation. When she did speak, she was clear and secure in her opinion. Arlene quietly commanded the respect of almost every person she met. Her quick mind, indomitable spirit, graciousness, easy laugh and tolerance for all of her fellow human beings were widely known.

Arlene helped several friends extricate themselves from marriages to physically abusive husbands. She rescued an entire family of six from a physically abusive father by purchasing their plane tickets, deftly working around the father’s work schedule and sneaking them to the airport, all at personal risk. Years later, one of those young men traveled by plane to their home to thank Arlene for “saving our lives.” When family and friends were unable to manage whatever trials and tribulations came their way, Arlene never failed to marshal her inner strength and empathy and dive right in to get them through. Several of Alton’s friends who endured difficulties at their homes would spend as much time as possible at the Barron’s home, safe, understood, and well-fed.

Arlene would help anyone at any time, but to try and tell her what to do or what to think rarely ended well. Decades ago, when their friends, a gay couple, would come to stay at Arlene and Jim’s home, Arlene would remove the nightstand between the twin beds and push them together, so that the couple would feel more welcome. When her son was struck unjustifiably by an abusive phys ed coach in middle school, Arlene strode into the principal’s office and made it abundantly clear that she and she alone would be the one to discipline her son, and that the coach would apologize in person. And he did.

When Alton and his friends were one person short for their frequent sandlot baseball games, Arlene was always happy to step in, play any position and slap a few base hits while batting lefty. A certain Mockingbird was fond of admiring itself in the side mirror of Arlene’s Oldsmobile. One day, when it had relieved itself onto her always spotless car for the umpteenth time, Arlene finally had had enough. She promptly went inside, grabbed Jim’s shotgun, loaded it, hoisted it deftly and shot the taunting bird out of the tree and into oblivion. Alton had never seen her shoot a shotgun before that nor did he ever again.

Arlene’s signature dishes made from scratch from handed-down recipes delighted many for more than 6 decades. They included her chocolate cake with chocolate pecan frosting, pecan sandies that melted in your mouth, pecan pie, okra and tomatoes (cooked in a manner that eliminated the slimy texture that turns off so many), and chicken and dumplings, to name a few.

When Arlene was diagnosed with ovarian cancer nine years ago at the age of 82, it was because she developed acute abdominal pain while climbing up into her live oak trees to pull off the moss growing on the branches. Her oncologist said that such intense physical exertion was what allowed an earlier diagnosis and convinced him that a full intensive chemotherapy was indicated for Arlene despite her advanced age. Arlene never once complained of pain during these physical trials, but she would frequently opine how sad she was that the many other patients getting chemo had to go through it too.

Arlene was inimitable and a quiet determined force of nature. She was an adoring wife, a loving mother and grandmother, a fiercely loyal friend, an avid gardener, and most importantly a supremely tolerant person of all people she met along the way.

In lieu of flowers, Arlene and Jim have always hoped that any donations be made to the scholarship in their name at the University of Texas Dell Medical School to support the education of a needful engineering student matriculating at the medical school to become a physician. The following link is for UT Medical Education and the URL designates any donation directly to their scholarship: http://links.utexas.edu/wzinkw

A private ceremony celebrating Arlene’s long and beautiful life and serene passing is being planned.