Linnea Alma (Bulford) Barry

Linnea A. Barry, Retired USIA Program Officer/Army Wife

Linnea Alma Bulford Barry (83), who retired in 1997 as a Program Officer of the United States Information Agency, died peacefully in her sleep on July 12, 2018, at her home in Arlington, VA. Ms. Barry was born in Providence, RI, the daughter of the late Murray Williams Bulford and Linnea Gota Tiderman. She had lived in the suburban Virginia area since 1968 and had been a resident of Arlington since 1984.

Ms. Barry joined USIA in 1980. As a Program Officer, she arranged and coordinated U.S. Government public diplomacy programs abroad in Africa and Europe. From 1973 to 1980, she was a Library Assistant in the Circulation Department at the Queen Street Branch of the Alexandria Library.

A Phi Beta Kappa cum laude graduate of the University of New Hampshire in 1957, she majored in History and Literature and later, in the mid-70s, pursued graduate studies in Library Science at the Catholic University of America.

From the late 50s to late 70s, Ms. Barry was the wife of a career Army Officer, and was active in military communities, serving Officer Wives’ Clubs and as a volunteer with the American Red Cross and Military Liaison offices assisting newly arrived military families in a foreign country or at new posts in the USA. Her marriage to the late Colonel Joseph A. Barry ended in divorce.

A former member and President of the Board of Directors of the Fairlington Meadows Condominium Association, she was active for many years in the Association’s Building and Grounds Committee, Fairlington’s “Fair Golds” Club and Arlington County senior activities.

Survivors include a son, Mark Joel Barry of Jefferson, MD; a son, Douglas Bulford Barry of Delmar, CA; a daughter, Kirsten Pisanelli Cole of Danvers, MA; seven grandsons and one granddaughter; and four great-grandchildren.

A visitation will be held at the Everly Wheatley funeral home in Alexandria, VA on Wednesday, July 18th from 4pm to 8pm. There will also be another visitation at Murphy-Urquhart funeral home in Warwick, RI on Monday, July 23rd from 12pm to 2pm followed by interment at All Saints Cemetery, also in Rhode Island.

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