Barbara S. Oliver

Barbara Schroeder Oliver peacefully passed into eternal life with Christ on April 11, 2020 at the age of 87. She was a lifelong resident of Birmingham, Alabama, born on June 6, 1932 to Robert Lawrence Schroeder and Rachel Anne Schroeder (née Oliver). She was married to Dr. Ernest Bingham Oliver for 31 years. Barbara was a member of the Cathedral Church of the Advent. She attended Lakeview Elementary School, Ramsey High School, and Stratford College. She was a student of the Nancy Lumb School of Dance, where she became an instructor at an early age. As a young adult, she had ballet schools in Crestline Heights and at the YWCA in downtown Birmingham, where she introduced many young girls to the world of ballet and performance. She was a founding member of the Birmingham Civic Ballet which is now The Alabama Ballet, Birmingham’s first professional ballet company. She was extremely proud of the Birmingham medical community. She worked for the University of Alabama Medical School Alumni Association and later at the Kirklin Clinic, where she was honored to be the recipient of its first “Employee of the Year” award. While at Kirklin Clinic she conceptualized and enacted a program whereby works of art, from the Birmingham Museum of Art, could be exhibited at Kirklin Clinic for the respite and enjoyment of patients who had come for medical care, their families and friends, and its employees. She was active in the Jefferson County Medical Society Women’s Auxiliary, Baptist Medical Center-Princeton Auxiliary, where she created the “The Second Fifty” which supported the Baptist Medical Center System. She was an original member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, as well as a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and various neighborhood garden clubs. She was an avid Auburn fan and voracious reader and was a member of numerous literary clubs over the years. She was passionate about the arts; she was a docent at the Birmingham Museum of Art, and was proud of her ballet students who went on to have performing careers. She loved her family immensely and was thrilled and enthralled with her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

She is survived by her sons Enoch Carter Morris III (Jenny), Taylor Oliver Morris (Marie), Clay Morris, Sr. (Miriam); grandchildren Jenny Alexandria Morris Kling (Kris), Rachel Morris Watson (Drew), Enoch Carter Morris IV (Tori); Taylor Morris, Jr. (Elise), Caroline Morris Sullivan (Jared), Mallory Morris; Claiborne Morris (Courtney), and Sally Morris Sutherland (Braydon); great grandchildren William Kristofer Kling, Sylvia Josephine Kling, Enoch Carter Morris V, Cade Thomas Morris, Jack Taylor Morris, Margaret Rose Morris, Andrew Alexander Watson, and Miller Frances Sullivan.

A private memorial service will be planned for a future date. The family respectfully requests that memorial donations be made to The Cathedral Church of the Advent or The Alabama Ballet. They also wish to thank, for their loving care, The Cathedral Church of the Advent and its pastoral care staff as well as the staff of St. Martin’s in the Pines. We are also thankful for the numerous physicians who cared for her over the years.

Mrs. Olivers obit may also be seen at https://obits.al.com/obituaries/birmingham/obituary.aspx?n=barbara-schroeder-oliver&pid=195990504