Barbara Ward Obituary

Born December 19, 1950 and grew up in Gainesville, Florida, she attended Vanderbilt University where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority and graduated with a major in mathematics in 1972. She married Culwell (Cully) Ward in 1973, obtained a Masters in Statistics from Memphis State University in 1974. She worked for IBM as a systems engineer in Memphis and the Greater Nashville area before joining Belmont University where she taught statistics for over 35 years. Barbara took a year off from teaching at Belmont when each of her children, Kat, Jim and Beth were born. At Belmont she created and implemented a statistics minor. She retired from Belmont and was awarded Emeritus status in 2016.
She was an active member of Harbor Island Yacht club, sailing with her family. She was involved in the creation of, and ran for years, a sailing camp at HIYC which endures today. She also served as Commodore of HIYC.
She loved life: spending time with her children and grandchildren. She loved nature and taught her family to identify wildflowers, and birds by sight and sound. She could tell from the calls of the animals in the woods when there was a hawk or snake threatening. She loved sailing, hiking, biking, working in her yard and contributing to whatever she was doing.
Her nature was to be interested in people and make them feel comfortable and important. The was no limit to her willingness to help her family and friends.
She is survived by her husband, Culwell Ward, children, Kathryn ("Kat") Booth (Garrett), James ("Jim") Ward (Tricia) and Elizabeth("Beth") Dorr (Ryan), brother, George Butler (Cindy) and grandchildren Piper Booth, Skylar and Riley Ward, and Eloise, Oliver and Isabelle Dorr. She is predeceased by her parents, George and Josephine Butler.
Instead of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Alive Hospice, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the Nashville Union Mission or the organization of your choice to combat cancer or Alzheimer's Disease.
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