Barbara Ann Birckett

On November 16, 1944, in the St. James area of Pocomoke City, Maryland, Sister Barbara Ann (Dennis) Birckett entered the world as the fourth child of Josephine (Schoolfield) and Phillip James Dennis Sr.  Wednesday, October 25, 2023, at the age of 78, she passed away at the Beverly Park Place Health and Rehab Community in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Sister Barbara’s favorite game to play with her siblings growing up was barrel rolling, where they would turn barrels on the side and run on top of them through ditches and all types of terrain. Whomever managed to stay on the longest won. She was educated in Maryland’s Worcester County public schools but had to leave Worcester High in10th grade to help care for her siblings and father.  November 14, 1964, she was married to Eugene Steve Birckett in Somerset County, Maryland; to their union were born two children: Eugene and Bertha.

Sister Barbara was first employed at Golden Pride poultry processing plant in Stockton, Maryland, and then went on to work at the Campbell Soup plant in Pocomoke City. In 1979, she left Campbell Soup to join her husband, Steve, in opening Steve’s Service Stationwhere she worked alongside him until its closing in 1997. Sister Barbara then worked for Worcester County’s Commission on Aging delivering Meals on Wheels.  After that, she was employed at Pocomoke’s Walmart as a maintenance worker until her health-induced retirement in 2009.

Sister Barbara’s religious education, which began at St. James United Methodist Church, was followed by membership at Miracle Deliverance Tabernacle under the leadership of Pastor Kathleen Moore. After attending the homegoing service of her aunt, Mother Mollie Hendricks, at the Pentecostal Church of God of Lincoln in Lincoln, Delaware, Sister Barbara and her husband invited Elder Marion Hendricks to lead bible study at their home in Pocomoke.  As a result of this move of faith, the Pocomoke City charge of the Pentecostal Church of God of Lincoln, Inc., was established.  As a founding member of the Pocomoke church, Sister Barbara did not hesitate to commit herself to the work as a faithful member of the church dinner crew, usher board, Voices of Pentecost choir, and Sunday School student until she moved to Tennessee in 2013 due to her failing health which called for more direct care by her immediate family.  Until her death, though, Sister Barbara stayed in touch withthe affairs and wellbeing of her church family back home in Pocomoke.

Sister Barbara enjoyed reading her bible, singing, and spending quality time with her those people important in her life: her siblings, grandchildren, and church family. She was a passionate and talentedcook who had a knack for cleaning fish and creating mouth-wateringservings of sweet potato pies, chicken and dumplings, and macaroni and cheese. Sister Barbara’s love for children was evidenced by her dedication to stepping in to help raise many of her siblings to whom she more like a mother than other sister, as well as a multitude of her nephews and nieces and two of her grandchildren of whom she had custody since they were infants.

Sister Barbara leaves to forever cherish her memories these loved ones: 

Sister Barbara was preceded in death by her grandparents, Raymondand Emma Schoolfield; her parents; her husband; her brothers—Clifton, Phillip, Alfred, William, Ronnie, and Cedric; and her sisters, Anna Lee, Romelly, and Marie.