Friday, January 22, 2021 Charleston County Library

WASHINGTON, D.C - Beverly Lynn Barnes, the great-granddaughter of John L. Dart and grand-niece of Susan Dart Butler died on Jan. 16, 2021 at the age of 62. Family members say she had been battling ovarian cancer. 

Barnes' obituary supplied by the family, noted her lineage of successful men and women, from doctors and lawyers to librarians and educators, including the Darts. In 1927, Susan Dart Butler opened the first public library for African Americans in Charleston. The Darts' efforts grew until the library was incorporated into the larger system. Now, a branch named for John L. Dart operates on King Street on the upper Charleston peninsula as part of the Charleston County Public Library.  

That desire to serve the public manifested in Barnes as well. She spent her adult life as a reporter, a member of President Bill Clinton's administration, and working with both the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and AmeriCorps. 

The family is asking that people wishing to recognize Barnes make a contribution to the Dart Library in her memory.

 

Read the full obituary provided by Barnes' family to learn more about her exemplary life: 

Beverly Lynn Barnes, 62, of Washington, D.C., died on Jan. 16, 2021, at her sister’s house in Maryland of complications from ovarian cancer.

Beverly was the daughter of Elaine D. Barnes and the late S. Blumfield Barnes. She had one sister, Karla Dart Barnes, of Maryland.

Beverly came from a family of strivers whose distinguished accomplishments are all the more remarkable when considered in the contexts of time and race. The men in Beverly’s family became doctors, lawyers, ministers, and real estate holders. The women, facing not only racial discrimination but also the limited expectations for women in those times, became librarians, real estate brokers, and educators who earned advanced college degrees.

In the 1930s, Beverly’s fraternal grandmother, Nellie Holland, became a real estate broker and built N.E. Holland Real Estate, a respected business that helped working class and middle-class families achieve the dream of home ownership.

Beverly’s great-grandfather, John L. Dart, obtained his bachelor’s degree from Atlanta University, studied at Newton Seminary in Massachusetts, and was ordained a Baptist minister. He pastored at two large churches in Charleston, S.C. He also owned real estate holdings and, in one building, his daughter, Susan Dart Butler, used Dart’s own books to open a community library – the first public library for African Americans in Charleston. The community library in Dart Hall was established in 1927 and continued to grow until it was incorporated into Charleston’s city library system. Eventually the city built a new library and named it the John L. Dart Library, which still serves the community on King Street in Charleston.

Beverly’s maternal grandmother, Mildred Pierce Dart, was a longtime elementary school teacher. Beverly’s maternal grandfather, William A. Dart, earned his law degree from Boston University and went on to become a prosecuting attorney for Atlantic City, N.J.

Beverly’s father, S. Blumfield Barnes, served honorably in the Army in the Second World War. After his service he worked as a truck driver in Philadelphia but went on to become a tax assessor for the city. He earned his GED high school degree about the same year that Beverly was graduated from Yale University.

Beverly’s mother, Elaine D. Barnes, went to New York University, earned a bachelor’s degree in social work, and received her Master of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania. Elaine changed careers, from social worker to a junior high school counselor, to enable a work schedule that would allow her to spend time raising her two daughters.

Those daughters inherited a rich history of accomplishment and unspoken expectation of service to others from both the maternal and fraternal sides of their families. Beverly and Karla, an educator, have continued their family legacy.

Early in her career, Beverly worked as a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. From newspaper work, she went on to a career in communications and marketing, working first for IBM.

Beverly joined the first Clinton administration as chief of staff in the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Public Affairs. She then worked for the Podesta Group where she managed the Annie E. Casey Foundation and American Association of University Women accounts.

In the second Clinton administration, Beverly served as deputy assistant to the president/deputy press secretary and senior advisor to the White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles, who said, “Beverly’s opinion was sought after and highly valued when we made major recommendations to the President. She was the leader who helped us see that kid who needed a better school or access to broadband and better health care. Beverly’s insight, her heart, and her values live on in all we did for the people she never forgot.”

Beverly later joined public relations agency GMMB where she managed the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and AmeriCorps accounts. Beverly became a senior vice president at the Fannie Mae Foundation and in 2005 she started a public policy organization: Homes for Working Families, whose mission was to change views and laws about the need for affordable homes.

While at the Fannie Mae Foundation, Beverly worked with Stacey Stewart, who is now president and CEO of the March of Dimes. “What I’ve always admired about Beverly is her ability to leverage her talent and expertise to bring issues that need to be addressed to light and work with others to advance solutions,” Stewart said. “Beverly’s light in the world has always been a force for good and those of us who’ve worked with her have been better off for the opportunity.”

Reflecting her family’s heritage and her own life’s work, in 2012 Beverly launched BeverlyBarnes Communications, which specialized in helping senior executives achieve their mission. She was proud to have served the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Jubilee Housing, PEAK Grantmaking, and the Greater Houston Partnership among other clients. “Without prior scientific knowledge, Beverly dove into the field and developed a clear and engaging way to share new scientific discoveries with the lay audience,” according to Cheryl Moore, chief operating officer of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute when Beverly served there. “Beverly challenged those around her to perform at a higher level, as she offered support all along the way.”

Beverly’s favorite pastime was traveling, and she made dozens of friends while traveling the world. She sat with silverback gorillas in Rwanda, climbed the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, admired Michelangelo’s David and other Renaissance masterpieces in Italy, navigated the Grand Canyon rim to rim, hiked the Great Wall in China, visited Uluru in Australia, and loved life the most when she was learning about other cultures on a trip.

Beverly is survived by her mother, Elaine Barnes, originally of Atlantic City, N.J., and now residing in Maryland; her sister Karla Barnes and brother-in-law Kevin Moore, of Maryland; her cousins Eileen O. Burke, Tamara L. P. McClinton, Gregory H. Pierce, Warren W. Pierce, Michael L. Pierce, Mark T. Pierce, and their families.

Beverly’s sister Karla plans to organize a celebration of Beverly’s life when the pandemic no longer restricts travel and gatherings. In recognition and memory of Beverly, contributions may be made to the John L. Dart Library in Charleston, S.C.

Beverly’s inurnment will be at Mount Lawn Cemetery outside of Philadelphia where her father is buried.