William Evans Barr

On February 23, 2025, William Evans Barr, of Wrightsville Beach, NC, passed away peacefully at the age of 79. He was born on March 31, 1945, at the Naval Air Station Hospital in Norfolk, VA where his father was stationed during World War II. His parents, John Evans Barr and Margaret Harvie Barr returned with Bill to Shamokin, Pennsylvania, where he spent his childhood and where he was a skilled basketball player at Shamokin High School. After graduation, he attended American University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science.

He is survived by his wife of over forty years, Victoria Ryan, whom he married in 1984, and by his children from his first marriage to Mary Helen MacPherson: Deirdre Deker of Leesburg, VA, Roy Barr of Leesburg, VA, Rachel Olarinde of Falls Church, VA, and Adam Barr of Leesburg, VA, and his eleven grandchildren: Jade, Devon, Casey, Grant, John, Ross, Luke, Maxwell, Grace, Jacob, and Carina, plus his three great-grandchildren, Noelle, Helen, and Galilea. He is also survived by his sister Garland Thursfield of Hollidaysburg, PA, her daughter Blair, and his brother Bruce and his son Ethan of Derry, NH, and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

Bill loved living in Wrightsville Beach and was often seen biking the loop and the beach lanes, swimming in the sound and surf, and, his favorite activity, shooting the breeze with everyone that he met. With his larger than life persona, his curiosity, energy and humor, he saw every day as an adventure. As his own father often said of him, he only had two gears....full ahead and stop.

There will be a celebration of his life this summer at the family sojourn to the beach where Bill welcomed them each summer for years.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested any memorial donations be given to any of the following causes that he championed in life:

Kids Making It

https://www.kidsmakingit.org

The Harrelson Center

https://harrelsoncenter.org/ways-to-give

or a donation to a place that became a champion for him on his own journey:

Lower Cape Fear LifeCare, Wilmington, NC Hospice

https://lifecare.org/donate/