Barbara Lee Deaton

Barbara Lee Deaton, 85, of Havelock passed away on Sunday February 12, 2023, after a brief illness.

She was preceded in death by both of her husbands, John R. Bizzell (who she lost early and young), and Jack Milton Deaton. At 22 she was widowed when the plane John was crewing, crashed on landing in the Philippines; their daughter, Andrea was three months old. Barbara married her second husband Jack, in 1960 and they were married for 53 years until his death in 2013. Together they raised a blended family of 3 children, with Barbara being a supportive Marine wife and sole caretaker for much of the time; as Jack was frequently away on various Marine Corps aviation deployments.

Barbara was a long-time (57 years) active member of Cherry Point Baptist Church. She and Jack were instrumental in helping to start the Bus Ministry in the early 1970's. She supported the North Carolina Baptist Children's home and the Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong missions. She was a dedicated nursery volunteer, and she participated in the migrant, county fair, and Bridge ministries. Barbara was almost single-handedly responsible for writing and getting the initial NC Hunger Fund grant from the North Carolina Baptists to fund the Havelock Food Pantry and she was very active in the Women's Missionary Union and the Owens Class. She was a regular at church business meetings and would frequently correct and explain the math, when others were unsure of what they had read. Barbara was adamant that she be allowed to design the altar and provide altar flowers several times a year on occasions and dates that were significant to her.

Barbara's love for her family, friends, and church folk was frequently shown through her cooking. She was an excellent cook, and her molasses cookies and banana bread are second to none. Many people through the years delighted in receiving them as gifts. She used her cooking abilities to enrich the lives of others, and her dishes will be missed.

Barbara was a Red Cross volunteer at the Cherry Point base hospital for many years. She provided magazines, juice and comfort to the Navy and Marine Corps families who needed to stay in hospital. When the hospital scaled back operations, she redirected her time and talents to the Navy Relief Society. Here she helped with loan applications, financial counseling, and general life advice to Marines and Sailors who were (usually) young and just getting used to life as service members.

Barbara stopped volunteer work for a period of time to manage and keep the accounts for Jack's business, Deaton Air. Deaton Air acted as proxy for companies wishing to submit bids for surplus military materiel. They handled bids, received, packed and shipped the items the companies purchased.

Upon Barbara's return to volunteer service, she worked with the AARP Foundation Tax -Aide to offer free tax assistance to Senior citizens and others who needed help in filing their taxes. Her role was quality assurance. She checked returns, flagged errors and provided the final approval of the document before it was submitted to the IRS. Her quick and agile mind was well suited to the precision required for this task.

Barbara's love of, and passion for, wild birds was well known. No telling how many thousands of pounds of bird seed she fed them over the years. She had multiple feeders and spent many happy hours observing and identifying her visitors. She was known to fret when there was a hawk in the area, and kept a BB gun on the back porch to defend her birds.

Barbara loved flowers and plants, and in their prime, she and Jack had a large garden with an abundant variety of their favorite summer crops. She would often send one of her children out to gather the okra, corn and tomatoes for the evening meal. She liked to stand in the garden and eat strawberries warm from the vine, or a tomato right off the plant (she would bring a salt shaker with her to the garden). Her front and side yard was always full of colorful flowering plants and she was particularly fond of pansies, begonias, daffodils and lilies.

Barbara was an avid reader and enjoyed a variety of genres. Every week she checked the Publisher's Weekly best seller list in the News and Observer and put new titles on reserve at the Havelock Public Library. She had a warm relationship with the library staff and valued their suggestions and assistance.

She is survived by son David Milton Deaton (Darlene), granddaughters Constance and Caitlyn; daughters Andrea Lee Newton and Helen Denise Deaton; and niece Lisa Lee and her family.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Cherry Point Baptist Church of Havelock on Saturday, February 25, 2023 at 2:00 PM. Family will receive visitors one hour prior to the service. The service will be given by Pastor Steve Epperson. Barbara will be interred at Gethsemane Memorial Park with Jack, at a later date in a private ceremony.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made to the North Carolina Baptist Children's Home, the Havelock Public Library, or the Havelock Food Pantry.

Family and friends are welcome to submit online condolences at www.mundenfuneralhome.net

Arrangements by Munden Funeral Home & Crematory in Morehead City, NC.