Diocese of Florida honors communicator Virginia Barrett Barker
Episcopal News Service. January 18, 2008 [011808-04]
Bishop Samuel Johnson Howard of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida has presented a "Letter of Institution" to communicator Virginia Barrett Barker in honor of her 25 years as editor of The Diocesan newspaper, naming her "Editor and Ecclesiastical Commentator Extraordinaire."
The document reads, in part, "Writer, editor, and observer of life in the Church, you have, for nearly a quarter of a century, been called to work together with three different bishops and more clergy and lay leaders than a mere mortal could ever remember as Editor of The Diocesan. You continue to be an important part of the life of the church because 30,000 of us would not know what is going on without you and your comprehensive understanding of our church and our diocese -- not to mention your fearless reportage! You have commanded the respect and honor of church reporters, editors and communicators around the globe.
"You have never missed a deadline or failed to report the big story. Most importantly, you have, by your words and in your life, shown us all that some of the finest sharing of the gospel comes not from the pulpit, but on the pages of a broadsheet newspaper."
Barker was born in Atlanta "while dinosaurs still stalked Peachtree Street," she says. She "doggedly collected credits" at Hollins College, Oglethorpe University, and the University of Chattanooga, and graduated from the University of North Florida, where she also did graduate work in literature and taught journalism before moving to Florida. She lives in Mandarin, Florida, where she keeps horses, a Dalmatian and hens on the site of a former citrus grove, which is now a registered wildlife habitat. She has two adult children and three grandchildren.
Barker has been a member of Church of Our Saviour, Mandarin, for 50 years, and is an active member of Episcopal Communicators, for which she has served as a board member, and was on the news team covering the 1998 Lambeth Conference.