Barbara Ione Burrus née Dunlevy was born Sept. 17, 1929, in Glouster, Ohio, where she grew up with her parents, Gerald and Myrtle (Hopes) Dunlevy, and seven siblings. She passed away Oct. 27, 2024, in Reynoldsburg, Ohio.
Barbara is survived by her three children, Drew Burrus of New Jersey, Bonnie (Eric) Corwin of Colorado, and John Burrus of California; and two grandchildren, Natalie (Jay) Corwin and Samuel Corwin.
Barbara obtained her Registered Nursing degree in 1950 from White Cross School of Nursing (now Riverside-White Cross School of Nursing) in Columbus, Ohio, and worked in Florida and California. She graduated from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, in 1957 with a Bachelor of Science in nursing education.
Barbara met the love of her life, Charles A. Burrus Jr., at Duke, where he was finishing his Ph.D. They married in Columbus, Ohio, in 1957 and moved to New Jersey, where Charles worked as a research physicist for AT&T Bell Labs.
Barbara initially worked as a nurse in New Jersey but when children arrived, she switched to volunteer work with the League of Women Voters, Girl Scouts and the United Methodist Church of Red Bank. She served on the boards of the Mental Health Association of Monmouth County and the New Jersey State Board of Mental Health and was elected to serve on the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School Board of Education.
She was a tireless advocate for civil rights and social justice in all arenas, finding ways to volunteer in support of those issues. Following a late call to ministry, Barbara earned a Master of Divinity in 1988 from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton and was ordained a United Methodist pastor in the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, serving multiple United Methodist churches in New Jersey over the next 15 years.
Barbara and Charles moved to Reynoldsburg, Ohio, in 2006 where she was active in the Wesley Ridge Retirement Community in Reynoldsburg and the Broad Street United Methodist Church in Columbus, Ohio.
Charles predeceased Barbara in 2022.
Barbara spent most of her adult life serving others – as a nurse, pastor, aunt, advocate, Scout leader and a wife, mother and grandmother. She was a natural cook and made wonderful pies and strawberry shortcake. She loved mountains and waterfalls, loved to travel and particularly loved people – Barbara never met a person she couldn’t talk to.
In lieu of flowers, Barbara’s family respectfully suggests that contributions of time or resources be made in her honor to the social justice cause of your choice.
The article originally appeared in the November 7 – 13, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
