Barbara Callison Charlton

Barbara Lee Callison Charlton passed away in her sleep September 28 at Albemarle

Health and Rehab. She was 89.

Barbara was born on August 8, 1935, to the late Etta Wood Callison and Sidney Burton

Callison in Princewick, West Virginia, a small coal mining town near Beckley. She was the fourth

of five children. Growing up, she loved to read and learn, telling one elementary school teacher

that she was going to read every book ever written when she grew up. She graduated from

Beckley High School in 1953 and attended Alderson Broaddus College and then Concord

College. She was a dedicated student and graduated in three years earning her BA in education

with a minor in art. She later earned her M.Ed. in reading education from UVA.

Barbara started her career teaching fifth grade in Vinton, VA. She continued there until

1969, when she married the love of her life, Royce Elmo (R E) Charlton, Jr. While on their

honeymoon, they watched the historic moon landing. Barbara moved to Dillwyn, while she and

RE built their house on the family farm. That fall she began teaching art, traveling to all the

elementary schools in Buckingham County, until the birth of her first child in 1971. She and RE

and spent many years raising children, chickens, and beef cattle.

 Barbara was a woman with many interests. She was an artist in multiple ways. She was

a painter. She loved embroidery. She sewed many of her family’s clothes and passed those

skills on. She made quilts. She loved flowers and had a large wildflower garden of native plants.

Barbara was a recycler before it was popular. As a child of the Great Depression, she knew how

to save and reuse anything: from bread bags to odd lids, from making building blocks out of milk

cartons to saving useful pieces of fabric or yarn. She always had whatever supplies a child

might need for an art project and she always knew where they were. Despite being blind in one

eye, Barbara had an amazing spatial sense. She always could tell the exact size container for

leftovers; one that filled to the very top, but never went over.

Barbara dedicated much of her life to her family and her church, Dillwyn First Baptist.

There she served on various committees, including many years as the recording secretary and

a member of Helping Hands. For many decades, she loved singing alto in the church choir. She

helped on the farm and for many years hand-washed and sold eggs from the farm to neighbors.

She tended a large vegetable garden and spent her summers canning what she grew. She was

a dedicated caregiver to her in-laws as they aged. But most of all, Barbara loved and cared for

her family and was a fierce advocate for her children.

Barbara was preceded in death by her loving husband of 47 years, RE Charlton, Jr; her

parents Etta and Sidney Callison; and three of her siblings; Frances Mae Schultz, Jean Agee,

and Sidney Collison, Jr.  She is survived by her youngest sister, Judy Raif (John); and her three

children: Royce Elmo Charlton, III (Julianna), Jenny Lee Charlton Barrier (Brian), and Timothy

Callison Charlton. She is also survived by her two grandsons Alistair Charlton Barrier and

Ronan Scott Barrier. She leaves behind many beloved nieces, nephews, and friends.

The family will receive friends and relatives on Friday, October 4, from 5-7 PM at

Dunkum Funeral Home in Dillwyn. Her funeral service will be held at Dillwyn First Baptist

Church on Saturday, October 5, at 3:30. Interment will follow in the Dillwyn Town Cemetery.

After the graveside service, there will be a gathering in the church fellowship hall.