Barbara Anne MacInnes

Barbara Anne MacInnes, 80, passed away on Tuesday, May 29, 2018, at the University of Maryland Shore Medical Center in Easton, MD. Barbara was born on December 31, 1937, in Phoenix, AZ. She was the daughter of the late John Bryant Neville Wheatley and Hortense Amy Lindheim Wheatley. When she was a year and a half, the family spent six months touring the country seeking another place to live. They ended up in Manhattan, her mother’s hometown. Barbara grew up in nearby Yonkers, NY, graduating from Roosevelt High School. She completed her freshman year at Roanoke College in Salem, VA, and married her high school sweetheart, Angus MacInnes, a year later. They moved to North Salem, NY, in Northern West Chester County where they raised four children. The oldest, Karen, a child with special needs, died at 18. Barbara’s granddaughter, Olivia, just finished her junior year at Southern Connecticut State University and her grandson, Jamie attended New Fairfield High School. Barbara became an advocate for children with special needs at the time the Education for All Handicapped Children Act became law. She completed a BS in Community Services at Empire State, the independent study college of the State University of New York and received a Master of Public Health from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in 1982. Her career path included serving as Program Administrator at the Mental Retardation Institute, West Chester County Medical Center, Deputy Executive Director of the AIDS related Community Service, serving the seven counties north of New York City, and implementing several Federal Demonstration Grants. Following retirement to Bath, NC, in 1996, Barbara formed her own consulting service, writing grants for area Hill Burton hospitals. In 2001, after the birth of their second grandchild, she and her husband moved again, this time to the Eastern Shore. They were drawn by the boat friendly waterways, the active art community and the model boat guild at the Maritime Museum. After her husband died in 2013, Barbara continued her interest in painting, participation in Easton’s Annual Banner program. She also continued going to the St. Michaels YMCA, where she met Chip Britt in 2015, exercising in the Nustep machines. Over time they found they had much in common and enjoyed each other’s company. They married January 20, 2018. Barbara and Chip moved to Londonderry, February 16. Barbara is survived by her daughters, Laurel MacInnes and her husband Bill Ardito of Danbury, CT, Holly (MacInnes) Micca and her husband Peter Micca; grandchildren, Olivia Micca and Jamie Micca of New Fairfield, CT and her husband, Chip Britt, of Easton, MD. In lieu of flowers, the family recommends memorial donations in Barbara’s memory be made to Talbot Special Riders, P.O. Box 391, Easton, MD 21601 or Friends of Karen, 118 Titicus Rd, North Salem, NY 10560. A Memorial Service to celebrate and remember a strong woman whose principles and compassion made a difference will be held Sunday, June 24 at 4 p.m. The service will be held in the Living Room / Library in the Main Building at Londonderry.

Barbara Anne MacInnes

December 31, 1937 - May 29, 2018