PITTSBORO — A long procession of friends, neighbors and family followed Barbara Beye Lorie — her body cradled in a lavishly-decorated cardboard casket, carried to her grave site by wagon — along a shaded gravel path through woods to a quiet corner of her Blue Heron Farm, where the well-known and beloved Chatham County activist, mother, grandmother and teacher was laid to rest last Thursday.
Musicians on horns and drums played “Just a Closer Walk With Thee” as the procession of mourners walked to the site where many shared memories of the “Duchess of Chatham County,” as several friends remembered her with royal flourish, before her body was lowered into the ground and covered with earth.
“Into the dance of the stars and planets, we let you go,” said the Rev. Gary Phillips, eulogizing Lorie, who died Monday morning, May 6, at the age of 93.
Recalling Lorie’s “enthusiasm for life and justice,” Chatham County commissioner Diana Hales spoke fondly of her friend of 25 years.
“She really, really, really was imbued with a ferocity to make things right,” Hales said. “One of the things that really stood out for me was Barbara’s willingness to engage and speak publicly on a multitude of issues. I admire that. And she loved to laugh.”
Lorie was born, on March 7, 1926, in Iowa City to Dr. Howard and Ruth Beye and later lived in New York City and Palm Beach, Florida, where she married Douglas Lorie. The couple later divorced and Barbara moved, in 1958, with her sons Tony and Doug to Chapel Hill, where she taught high school English.
Lorie retired to Chatham County, where she was a founder of the Blue Heron Farm Intentional community in rural countryside north of Pittsboro and lent her energy to many political and community issues.
In July 1998, Lorie was a Nancy Susan Reynolds Award winner for her work towards establishing greater racial equality, a flame which had been ignited and energized by a civil rights march. She was one of the first public school teachers to bring African-American literature and history into the classroom.
“We’re all members of the human race,” Lorie said at the time of the Reynolds award, “just different colors.”
Her son Tony wrote in a Facebook post that “so many students loved her and thought she was the best teacher they ever had.”
Lorie taught at Chapel Hill High School in the late 1960s and 70s, said Tony, and was the first teacher to introduce Black History Month at the school. “She was an activist and civil rights leader in every way,” Tony wrote. “I loved and adored my mother, who has left a legacy of kindness and unbelievable altruism felt by thousands. She will be missed.”
One of her former students, speaking at the funeral, remembered Lorie as inspirational and nurturing in the classroom. “She was the lighthouse on a rocky shore,” she said.
Lorie was also a world traveler, home builder, cook, gardener, storyteller and avid reader.
“To me, Barbara is life,” said Efrain Ramirez, of Pittsboro, one of many who spoke about Lorie at her graveside service. “She is love, and she had so much love to give. She was a grande dame, and she will always be the Duchess of Chatham.”
Tami Schwerin, executive director of Pittsboro-based Abundance NC and Lorie’s friend for many years, said that while Lorie is gone, she continues to do the things for which she was so well-loved.
“Her determination,” said Schwerin, “her passion, her vulnerability, her magic, her intellect, her beauty gives all of us inspiration and energy to go forward and make this place even better and create community with each other at the deepest level.”
As those who loved her gently tossed rose petals on her grave, Lorie’s body was lowered in the ground in one final act of activism: a “green” funeral on the property she nurtured, her body in a biodegradable cardboard casket liberally decorated with loving words and colorful designs, including a bright, yellow sun.
Randall Rigsbee may be reached at rigsbee@chathamnr.com.