Barbara Anne Clark

The daughter of James Woodson Clark and Alice Fite Clark, Barbara was born in New Orleans on Jan. 17, 1958, with a cognitive disability that made school – and, in fact, her life – a struggle. Nevertheless, she met the challenges of her disability without a road map.

She grew up in eastern New Orleans and went to public schools, graduating from a special program at Alcée Fortier High School (now Lusher Charter School).

Upon graduating, she launched into a series of jobs that included washing dishes at Morrison’s Cafeteria, working the line at Wise Cafeteria, cleaning judges’ chambers in the federal courthouse, sorting donations at Goodwill Industries, and bagging groceries at Zuppardo’s Economical Super Market, Winn-Dixie and Langenstein’s supermarkets, and setting tables at Poydras Home.

Barbara showed up faithfully for work and loved all her jobs, but she said her favorite was her last: cleaning tables at Tulane University’s Lavin-Bernick Center dining room.

Barbara loved movies, especially “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Lady Vanishes,” both of which she watched so much that she wore out the DVDs. While watching “ER,” she developed a crush on George Clooney, who played Dr. Doug Ross, calling him her "honey bunny" and saying he was "too damned sexy to be married."

She lived with her father until his death in 2002. After that, she moved into Peace Lake Towers, also in eastern New Orleans, where she lived until Hurricane Katrina pummeled the building when it struck in August 2005. Floodwaters, which covered about 80 percent of the city, inundated the ground floor.

The Coast Guard rescued Barbara and took her to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, where she spent two nights before being taken to Austin, Texas, and then to Chicago, where she reunited with her family.

After returning to New Orleans, Barbara lived Uptown, with family and in a series of apartments, until August, when she moved into the Magnolia Community’s Tolmas House, a group home in Jefferson Parish for people with intellectual disabilities.

A few weeks after Barbara moved in, Hurricane Ida struck, and she and her fellow residents were evacuated to a facility in Pineville. The disaster didn’t faze her. Magnolia staffers who accompanied the residents said Barbara loved the change of scenery and rose daily at dawn to head for a porch, where she planted herself in a rocking chair overlooking a lake to watch the world wake up.

After Barbara and the seven other group-home residents returned to Tolmas House, she settled into life there; family members said they never had seen her happier. But after Thanksgiving, she developed a case of pneumonia and spent the last two weeks of her life in Ochsner’s intensive-care unit.

Survivors, all of New Orleans, include her sisters, Emily Clark and Judith Woodman; their husbands, Ronald Biava and Donald Woodman; her niece, Jesslyn Woodman; and Laura Anderson, her longtime friend and caregiver.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 5, 2:00 p.m. at Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church, 3900 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, with visitation beginning at 1:00 p.m. Donations in Barbara's memory may be made to Magnolia Community Services, 100 Central Avenue, Jefferson, LA 70121.

Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements