Barbara Burwell

Barbara Gates Burwell, born January 17, 1921, first came to Woods Hole from Cambridge MA at the age of four because her father planned to do research at the MBL for the summer. Her parents loved Woods Hole so much that they purchased a lot on Vineyard Sound from Joseph Story Fay and built a summer home there for their family. Barbara came to Woods Hole every summer, and was married at the Church of the Messiah on June 13, 1943 to her brother's college roommate.

Her husband, Langdon Burwell, was in medical school at that time, and after he completed his medical training and his military duty, he established a private practice in Falmouth in 1954. While raising her four children in this community, Barbara volunteered as the chairwoman of the UNICEF campaign, served on the vestry of the Church of the Messiah, worked tirelessly with Joan Kanwisher to make the Shining Sea Bikeway a reality, and joined forces with other community members to promote alternative wastewater treatments instead of the proposed sewer outfall at Nobska Point.

Barbara was also a greatly-loved confidant and spiritual mentor for many members of her Woods Hole community. Her life's greatest sadnesses were the death of her father when she was only twelve and the loss of her son Donnie, who was killed in Vietnam in 1968. Barbara passed away on March 23, 2009 at her home on Fay Road, surrounded by her loving family.