Annie Lou Barber

Mrs. Barber was born June 13, 1935, in Waterloo, Iowa to Earl Clifford Armstrong and Eva Catharine Rinker Armstrong.

She moved to Dallas with her family in 1940 and lived in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas and Denton growing up. She graduated from Sunset High School in Dallas in 1953. Mrs. Barber attended college at North Texas State College (now UNT in Denton) and Arlington State College (now UT Arlington).

She met her devoted husband of 49 years, Arthur Lee Barber, Jr., at age 18 and the two were married August 13, 1954. Mr. and Mrs. Barber followed Arthur’s career to Connecticut, Ohio and Pennsylvania before settling back in the Dallas area where she continued to perform her roles of wife, mother, grandmother and homemaker through the years.

Mr. and Mrs. Barber were blessed with three children, Catharine Inez in 1957, Stephen Lee in 1961 and Constance Lou in 1962 and raised their family in Dallas. She was a skilled seamstress and enjoyed sewing, tole painting, crafts and preserving family memories through scrapbooking and journaling. She was the part-owner of Ribbon Express in Dallas with her husband. Mr. and Mrs. Barber were charter members of the Spring Creek Volunteers in Patrol. Mr. and Mrs. Barber were committed to their church, First Baptist – Dallas, for many years, and were directors in the Pathfinder Sunday School Class.

Mrs. Barber moved to Tyler in 2008 and joined Green Acres Baptist Church, where she was active in the Betty Reedy Sunday Morning Bible Study. She lived with her daughter, Connie, and was involved in church ministries.

Mrs. Barber was preceded in death by her husband, Arthur Lee Barber, Jr. and by both her parents.

She is survived by her children: Cathy Wright (Nelson) of Athens, Steve Barber (Sherri) of Richardson and Connie Conaway of Tyler; her siblings, Harvey Armstrong (Betty) of Senoia, Georgia, Neal Armstrong (Nancy) of Austin, Texas and Arnie Armstrong (Ruth) of Dallas, Texas. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Judson Derrick (J.D.) Conaway of Hawkins, Megan Conaway Winters (Michael) of Tyler, Caroline Barber of Richardson and Ben Barber of Richardson.

Visitation is scheduled for Thursday, November 12, 2015 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the funeral home.

Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Friday, November 13, 2015 at Lloyd James Funeral Home, 1011 E 1st St, Tyler. Interment service will follow at 3 p.m. at Restland Funeral Home, Dallas in the Abby Chapel.

Memorial contributions may be made to: The Alzheimer’s Alliance of Smith County, 211 Winchester Dr., Tyler, TX 75701 or the Firefighter’s Foundation of Tyler, 1718 W Houston St., Tyler, TX 75702.