Barbara Barton

Barbara Barton
Barton (aged 109) in May 2018.
Birth:	12 October 1908 Barrington, Rhode Island, USA
Death:	12 August 2022 Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Age:	113 years, 304 days
Country:	USA
Unvalidated

Barbara Standish Barton (née Gibbs; 12 October 1908 – 12 August 2022) was an American supercentenarian who was the oldest known person living in the U.S. state of Rhode Island at the time of her death. She possibly holds both all-time state records (birth and residency/death) since 2020. Her age is currently unvalidated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG).

Biography

Early life

Barbara Barton was born as Barbara Standish Gibbs on 12 October 1908 in the town of Barrington in Bristol County, Rhode Island, USA. She was the only child of Harold and Mabel (née Collamore) Gibbs, who sometimes worked at Harold’s father Ruben’s grocery store. She enjoyed accompanying her father on the grocery delivery routes whenever possible. Harold was a fisherman who eventually became a leading conservationist in Rhode Island. The family owned a telephone as early as when Barbara was still in elementary school. Her parents died within two years of each other; Mabel in 1968 at the age of 79, and Harold in 1970 at the age of 83.

Barton at the age of six.

During her youth, Barton was in the Girl Scouts, even meeting the First Lady of the United States one time. She graduated from Barrington High School in 1926 at the age of 17. She was the secretary of her class and participated in extracurricular school activities such as music, acting, and cheerleading. Coincidentally, her best friend at the time, Mary Jane Sinclair, also lived an extremely long life, dying on 12 May 2016 at the age of 107 years. The two maintained contact with each other for the remainder of Mary’s life.

Barton studied textile design at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), graduating in 1928. She went on to work as a fabric designer, including for the British company J & P Coats in Worcester, Massachusetts. She used to teach Sunday school in Warren Methodist Church. She married Edwin ‘Pete’ Sanders Barton (1909–1992) on 24 October 1931, whom she had first met as children at Sunday school. The couple had four children: Prudence Bishop, Charlotte Sornborger, Ralph, and Edwin ‘Ned’. Her husband worked as an engineer, managing at a plant, and died in 1992 at the age of 83. As of 2022, all four children are still alive, with the eldest of them, Bishop, being 89 years old.

Later life

Barton playing the keyboard at the age of 106.

Barton still lived independently until the age of 102. She survived a fall when she was 104 years old, breaking her arm in the process. Since at least 2015, she lives in the care home Hattie Ide Chaffee Home in Providence, Rhode Island. Her longevity has been noted by local newspapers on numerous occasions throughout her centenarian years. At the age of 106, it was reported that she enjoyed playing the electric keyboard in her room with headphones on. Other hobbies of hers include painting with watercolors, and spiritualism.

Her daughter Sornborger has described Barton as being religious, but "very much a liberal thinker" and "not your down-the-line church person… She thinks for herself". As a person, she has been described by those close to her as positive, friendly, open-minded, and sweet. On her 110th birthday in 2018, she was said to have recently suffered from an undisclosed illness, which has affected her memory in the following years.

Barton died in Providence, Rhode Island, USA on 12 August 2022, at the age of 113 years, 304 days.

Longevity records

It is unknown when Barton became the oldest living person in Rhode Island, which is the smallest state in the United States in terms of area, and 44th in terms of population.

On 13 August 2020, Barton surpassed the age of Beatrice Lawson and Rubye Cox, who both coincidentally are currently the oldest validated people ever to reside/die in Rhode Island, at the age of 111 years, 305 days. However, unvalidated supercentenarian Louise Silva may have been older at 111 years, 350 days. She surpassed Silva’s age on 27 September 2020. On 10 September 2020, she surpassed Elizabeth Stefan's age of 112 years, 332 days. Stefan is the tenth-oldest validated supercentenarian who died in New England, a geographic and cultural region in the Northeastern part of the country. The all-time record is held by Bernice Madigan of Massachusetts at the age of 115 years, 163 days.

On 7 November 2020, Barton surpassed the age of Lydia Carvalho, who is currently the oldest validated person ever born in Rhode Island, at the age of 112 years, 25 days. If validated, she would officially hold both all-time records for the state. On 29 August 2021, she surpassed Edna Bowman's age of 112 years, 320 days. Bowman is the tenth-oldest validated person born in New England. On 13 June 2022, she surpassed the unvalidated supercentenarian Mary Sorenson's age of 113 years, 243 days to possibly become the tenth-oldest supercentenarian to ever reside/die in New England. This record is also held by Madigan. On 26 June 2022, she surpassed Zora Wriggle's age of 113 years, 256 days to possibly enter the top 100 validated Americans in history.

At the age of 113, Barton was believed to the fourth-oldest living person in the country, with only three validated supercentenarians older than her (Bessie Hendricks, Edie Ceccarelli, and Hazel Plummer). Taking into account American-born people, she was the fifth-oldest living person because Maria Branyas Morera emigrated to Spain at a young age. She was also among the last ten surviving Americans born in the 1900s decade. Her Successor as Oldest living person in Rhode Island was Henry Polichetti

Gallery

Barton in an undated photo.

Barton with one of her grandsons.

Barton celebrating her 106th birthday in 2014.

Barton at the age of 108.

Barton (aged 109) with three of her eldest children.

References

• Rhode Islands Births and Christenings - Barbara Gibbs, 12 Oct 1908 Birth record transcript, FamilySearch
• Providence Journal Archives Early life mentions
• Harold N. Gibbs Papers Rhode Island Archival and Manuscript Collections Online
• Barbara Gibbs Barton Find a Grave
• Barbara Gibbs Barton Historical & Genealogical Society
• The sounds of a century Barrington Times, 18 February 2015, pg. 1 & 8
• Barbara Barton – 108 years of Barrington Times East Bay Newspapers, 2016/2017 (secondary source, click left arrow for second page)
• 110-year-old Rhode Islander sustained by creativity Providence Journal, 13 October 2018 (secondary source)
• Rhode Island woman celebrates 112th birthday WJAR, 12 October 2020
• Mention Youtube, 5 October 2021
• Barbara Gibbs Barton Obituary Carpenter-Jenks Funeral Home & Crematory, August 2022

See also

List of supercentenarians born in 1908