Barbara Ann Cleaveland's Obituary
Barbara Ann Cleaveland nee Benner, age 83, of Lewes, DE passed away on Thursday, May 5, 2016, at her vacation home in Dewey Beach, DE. She was born Tuesday, July 19, 1932 in Allentown, PA, daughter of the late Roland George and Susan Jeanette (Ault) Benner.
Barbara graduated as a valedictorian from Salem (NJ) High School in 1950. She then attended the Abington Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Abington, PA, where she was awarded a diploma in 1953 as most outstanding student. In 1957 she received her B.S. in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, which she attended part time while working as a staff nurse at Abington Hospital.
Barbara married Richard Grant Cleaveland, son of the late LeRoy Adams Cleaveland and Suzayne Margaret Calligan on April 24, 1965 in Salem, Salem County, New Jersey.
From 1956 to 1960 she worked as a medical-surgical clinical instructor in the hospital's School of Nursing and then in 1960-62 as a head nurse in the surgical unit at the hospital. From 1962 to 1964 she worked as office nurse for Dr. Fred Medinger of Abington. In 1964 she moved to the Washington DC metropolitan area and took a job as both clinical and classroom instructor with the Fairfax County (VA) School of Practical Nursing, spending most of her time with students in the surgical units of Fairfax Hospital. She retired from that position in the fall of 1987.
Barbara was active as a voluntary state-sanctioned nursing home ombudsman and as a volunteer Personal Advocate for the Arlington Agency on Aging. She was appointed by the Arlington County Board to the Commission on Aging in the fall of 1994; in October of 1998 she was elected to Chair the Commission.
She traveled to Sweden to be present at the ceremonies associated with the award of the Nobel Prize to her stepfather Charles Pedersen, a research chemist for DuPont. She and her husband traveled extensively in their motorhome, twice visiting Alaska.
In 2007 she and her husband moved to Cadbury at Lewes (recently renamed to Cadbury Senior Services) where she was very active in the Residents Association, serving a term as President. She is survived by her husband of 51 years Richard Cleaveland, her sister Shirley Brooks of Woodstown NJ, two nieces and a nephew and several of their descendants as well as several of her husband’s descendants.
All services are private.
Please sign Mrs. Cleaveland's online guest book located on this site.
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