Funeral services for Mrs. Martha Beatrice “Bea” Barber, age 75, will be held at 11 am Saturday, July 1, 2023, at the Shelton Funeral Home Chapel with burial to follow in Whitehall Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 5 pm until 8 pm on Friday, June 30, 2023, at the funeral home.
Bea left this earth peacefully surrounded by her family Monday morning, June 26, 2023.
Bea was born January 22, 1948, to Willard and Martha Grooms. She was affectionately nicknamed Tootie by her father and was known all throughout her life as Tootie by her loved ones.
She attended and graduated from Spring Hill High School. Bea married Bobby Barber on February 4, 1967, and together they celebrated 56 years of marriage this February before the Lord called her home.
Bea worked and retired from West TN Regional Health Office in Jackson, TN, where she made countless friends during her tenure there. She loved to travel and explore the world around her. She was a lover of all flowers, and their beauty was the lens in which she viewed the world. To know her was to love her, and she would always have a smile and a kind word for everyone.
She was a member of the Whitehall Baptist Church in Trenton, TN. She loved her church family and missed them sorely over the course of her illness.
Bea was preceded in death by a son, James Michael Barber; her father, Willard Grooms; mother, Martha Grooms Bannister; stepfather, Shorty “Floyd” Bannister; brother, James Grooms (Yvonne); and sister, Louise Brewer (Marvin).
She is survived by her husband of 56 years, Bobby Barber; son, Chris Barber (Melissa); daughter, Amanda Barber; grandson, Colton Barber (Kenley); and granddaughter, Emily Barber.
