Robert Emmanuel Barkley

He was born on Sept. 24, 1927 in Colorado Springs, Colo., and he grew up in Warren, Ohio, the only child of E. Ray Barkley and Nelle Barkley (nee Doke). For most of his adult life he lived in Greensboro, where he raised a family and worked on behalf of the city for many years.

Robert, called Bob, was a civil engineer – a dedicated, successful, and lifelong civil engineer -- whose enthusiasm for construction and redevelopment projects waned only in the very last days of his life.

A 1945 graduate of Warren G. Harding High School in Ohio, he received a bachelor’s degree from Case Institute of Technology, and a master’s degree from Purdue University, where he was proud to note that he completed his studies faster than anyone before him. He did post-graduate work at Yale University’s Bureau of Highway Traffic in 1952.

A lifetime member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and a registered professional engineer in the state of North Carolina, he spent some of his early career doing feasibility studies for parking garages in Buffalo, N.Y., and for the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike in Virginia. In Winston-Salem, he was assistant director of the Forsyth County Planning Department, and in Chattanooga, Tenn., he was director of Urban Renewal.

But Bob was proudest of the work he did in Greensboro.

As Executive Director of the Redevelopment Commission of Greensboro, he initiated the first redevelopment project in North Carolina back in the ‘60s, including a successful defense of the constitutionality of the State Redevelopment Act. He oversaw eight additional redevelopment projects in Greensboro before he retired in 1992.

Over the years he received many awards and honors. One, a plaque from the Gamma Beta Sigma chapter of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity for outstanding service to the citizens of Greensboro, cited his “aspiration for things beautiful, wholesome and healthy instead of blight, waste and pestilence” and his “work toward elimination of physical structures which tend to create or nurture conditions of social malignancy.”

He had a vision for a better city and took great joy in helping to create it.

After retiring from the city, Bob worked for several years as a private appraiser, then he retired for good. But he couldn’t stop being a civil engineer.

Until about a year ago when his health began to decline, he liked to drive around town almost daily to check on various road and building projects. He became so well-known at one site that the construction firm presented him with a hardhat with his name on it. And when he couldn’t drive anymore, he had family and friends drive him to sites, most recently in early March to check on the new engineering building at A&T State University.

Almost until the day he died, Bob never tired of talking about building projects. He talked about highway projects and church projects and University of North Carolina-Greensboro projects, projects he admired and those he did not, projects close to home and projects far away. You name the project, and he could – and would -- tell you its intricate details. He might even tell you more than you wanted to know.

He was a gentleman, a relic from a bygone age of civility – the kind of man who tipped his cap to strangers in the parking lot of Walmart, for example, or who gave $100 to a Tex & Shirley’s waitress he knew was struggling to make payments for college. He was the kind of man who gave regularly throughout his life to charities and churches, including Samaritan’s Purse, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, RBC Ministries, and Lawndale Baptist Church, where he and Brenda were members for decades. He was proud to have served as a member of the Board of Trustees for Old Salem.

We honor him as a devoted husband to Brenda for more than 65 years, a father and provider, a dedicated civic leader and a follower of Christ. We will miss him greatly.

He subscribed to and religiously read the Greensboro News & Record for many decades. In recent years, he particularly enjoyed reading and commenting on the obituaries. We hope he approves of this one.

Survivors include his sons, Bryan Barkley, of Fountain Hills, Ariz., and Brad Barkley (wife, Kristin) of Frostburg, Md.; Karen Hambright, of Greensboro, who was loved as a daughter; grandchildren Jennifer Jinnette (husband, Corey), of Providence Forge, Va.; Lucas Barkley (wife, Kerri), of Bloomfield, N.J., and Alexandra (Alex) Barkley, of Pittsburgh, Pa. His great-grandchildren are Michaela Jinnette, 9, and Lydia, Joseph, and Ambrose Barkley, ages 5, 2, and 5 months. He also leaves behind Missy, a stray cat who adopted Bob and Brenda about 12 years ago and provided them much love and comfort during their last years.

He is being interred at Westminster Gardens Cemetery in Greensboro, beside his wife.

A memorial service for family and friends will take place at a later date.

Donations in Bob’s memory may be made to Greensboro Urban Ministry, 305 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro, N.C., 27406.