Anita Bradshaw Barker, one of our founding directors and dedicated supporters, has died.
Ever the consummate engaged citizen, Anita’s legacy of volunteering includes service on many municipal and charitable boards, and Williamstown Rural Lands was one of them.
Anita was a founding Board member in 1986 and served on our Board for over a decade. From the beginning, she helped in the office when we were located above the bakery on Spring Street clear through to our current home at the former Rosenburg Farm at Sheep Hill.
As well as serving on the Rural Lands Board, Anita was editor and publisher of our quarterly newsletter and spent countless hours tabling at various events where the young WRL and its work were brought before the public. On trail work days she was right there with the pruners, the saw, or any other tool needed to clear the path.
Even after her retirement from our Board she was a frequent visitor to Sheep Hill; indeed most of the farmhouse furnishings came from her home when she and her husband Francis moved to Sweetwood. Not long after, they relocated to Concord, MA, where, not surprisingly, Anita became active in her new community. Anita continued to visit us whenever she was in town, bringing her energy, her considered opinions, and her generosity.
Anita will be much missed by all in the WRL and greater community, who benefited from her dedication and service.
Williamstown Rural Lands is honored to be named as a recipient of memorial gifts for one of our most dedicated founders and supporters, Anita Bradshaw Barker. Her obituary is found here.