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Mae “Pogo” Barie, 83, has passed peacefully  at her home in Palm Desert, CA.

Pogo spent her childhood in Lineville, AL, enjoying the activities of her large family and many friends. She graduated from Woodlawn High School, Birmingham, AL, and received her BA from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL. Mae received her nickname “Pogo” in college, after the popular comic strip character created by Walt Kelly.

In her early career, she was an efficiency expert with the Remington Rand Corporation, and traveled around the country on special projects.

She married Lt. Arthur Harper Barie, USN in 1956, and they moved to his duty station at Naval Air Station (NAS) Olathe, KS. Her career now paralleled his, since in those days, a Naval officer’s wife had responsibilities and expectations as part of his rank and assignment. The U.S. Navy had a formal social structure, with protocols and ceremonies for all sorts of occasions, and often the wife was expected to host and entertain official visitors, special political and military guests, and local dignitaries. Pogo may not have been much of a cook at the beginning of her marriage, but she learned by experience!

While at Olathe, daughters Clary (Nov. 1957- Jan. 1958) and Viki (Oct. 1958 -) were born. On Viki’s first birthday, Pogo was travelling with the toddler to Sicily – Art’s new duty station. It was a long, multi-stop journey half-way across the world. At NAS Sigonella, Pogo experienced a completely new culture, new foods, shortage of basic material goods, and many wonderful new friends. Alice Tevelson (Mrs. Charlie) remained a life-long friend, sharing stories of their travels, eccentric characters and crazy antics, and so much more. Art and Pogo traveled in Europe during this assignment, and Pogo also traveled with other Navy wives.

 

While at Sigonella, they also had daughter Tania (Aug. 1960 -) in a Sicilian maternity hospital, with strict nuns mandating a long lying-in recovery that did not go over well with Pogo.

A year or so in Cambridge, MA while Art was at Harvard introduced Pogo to “Yankeeland”, and their generous neighbors, the Crams, who treated the young Barie family as their own.

The next duty station was NAS Oceana, where Pogo made a home on Harton Road, Virginia Beach, VA. The neighborhood was full of other military families (Dick and Mary Belle Bordone), and was full of kids too! It was a pretty intense time for Art, including a tour in Vietnam, which meant that Pogo had to support the wives and families of missing and killed men, as part of her squadron and A-6 community role. Right before Art shipped out to Vietnam, they welcomed their son Arthur Harper Barie, Jr. (Oct. 1966 -). In labor, Pogo drove herself to the hospital, since Art was flying the squadron out to San Francisco to meet the ship.

Pogo loved living in Virginia Beach – many good friends, near the white sandy beaches, close enough to her sisters and in-laws living in the South for extensive visiting, lots of historical places to tour, and 8 years living in the same house – a rarity for many military families. Pogo had a special relationship with Margie, her housekeeper/nanny/factotum, who looked after Pogo as much as she did all the other things! During these years, Pogo was also busy with Daisy and Girl Scouts, including activities, trips, and camping, as well as volunteering at Thalia Presbyterian Church.

Pogo’s next home front was Alexandria, VA, while Art was assigned to the Pentagon; his office was actually in Chrystal City. These were the tumultuous times of anti-war riots, Watergate hearings, and Nixon’s China trip. But family memories are mostly about the weekend trips to the various Smithsonian museums on the Mall, touring Embassy Row and the White House, and all the cultural activities we experienced. Pogo really enjoyed attending plays, concerts, performances, and touring historic Revolutionary War and Civil War sites, and driving to the Shenandoah Valley. She continued her leadership with the Girl Scouts, and there were several memorable camping trips to the Maryland shore.

From Washington, D.C. to Washington State: Pogo made her home in the Commanding Officer’s Quarters at NAS Whidbey Island, on the Seaplane Base. The house was on Maylor’s Point; looking out the kitchen window, one could see Puget Sound, punctuated by Mt. Rainier to the southeast; looking out the front door, beyond the huge lilac bushes, one could see Mt. Baker to the northeast; looking out from the garage, one could see the Olympic Mountains to the west. Pogo was very busy hosting official functions, getting to know the station and squadron people, and learning about Oak Harbor – a small town on a somewhat remote island in the far northwest corner of the nation.

At first, she mourned the loss of the cultural and artistic opportunities of Washington, D.C., but learned to enjoy the new possibilities: Vancouver and Victoria, B.C., and Seattle, WA, the North Cascades, the Olympic Peninsula, Coupeville, Langley, Chuckanut Drive, Hovander Homestead, Deming Logging Show, Methow Valley, Ocean Shores, Port Townsend, eating dim sum at Gastown, camping at Jim Creek, shopping at the Nordstrom store in downtown Seattle….

When Art’s duty assignment changed, the family moved next door to the Chief of Staff’s Quarters! Pogo’s role changed as well, and she began to sink deep roots into Whidbey Island – with birthday club, Sandy Carrothers, Steve and Shirley Stone at the Capt. Whidbey Inn, Peg and Greer Moore, Viv and Brig Kidd, Doc and Gloria Wampler, MaryAnne and Wally Funk, Roberta Hager, Herb and Muriel Pickard, and many more friends.

After Art retired, they moved to Shamrock Lane, near the Whidbey Island Golf Club, just outside of Oak Harbor. Pogo and Art lived in this home for the next 27 years, being blessed with the best neighbors ever, Mel and Dee Elvebak, Ariana and Ryan, plus Shadow. Tennis and gardening and volunteering and travelling filled their days. Pogo swam every day, and did her water aerobics. Wonderful parties, hoe-downs, lawn bowling, picnics, and dinners with dozens of friends filled their social calendar. Ever the organizer, Pogo worked with Kathryn Johnson on dance extravaganzas, with others to help glean orchards and gardens to provide food to Help House, and of course, with many local organizations to raise money for civic and social service needs. Pogo was always active with charities on Whidbey Island, particularly with the United Way, Help House,
NAS Hospital, American Cancer Society, and Island County Museum.

Truly, Pogo’s happiest days were those spent walking on West Beach, looking for agates, enjoying the spectacular scenery of the Olympic Mountains and San Juan Islands, but most of all, being with her best friend, Art.

Pogo travelled all over the world — with Art, on her own, with friends, and really enjoyed being on the road. Her first trip was at age 16, to visit her brother Buck. For then, there was no stopping her! In the 1960s Pogo went white water canoeing in the Philippines, shopped in Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, Athens and Istanbul, and went down the wooden slide at SalzZeitReise near Berchtesgaden, Germany. In 1965, Pogo, Frankie and Joyce made an epic tour of the USA, to celebrate Joyce’s college graduation; the kids stayed with Jody in Memphis! In the 1970s, Pogo and Art traveled to South America, and the Spanish islands of Majorca and Minorca (some of her favorite places), and visited the Purdy Jordan family in Mexico City. In the mid-1980s, they went on a three-week cruise down the West Coast, through the Panama Canal, and over to the Caribbean, fulfilling one of Pogo’s top trip wishes.

She loved New Zealand (fresh kiwi! Alpine scenery!) so much, we were afraid she might not come home. She did not like Fiji. Outside Melbourne, she watched the tiny penguins waddle out of the sea at dusk. With Art, she made many trips to Kelowna, B. C. and the Okanagan country, as well as many wonderful resort trips to Georgia with his high school reunions. They wintered in Palm Desert for some 35 years, and criss-crossed the USA many times. Some of her serendipitous travel occasions were being on Parliament Hill when Pierre Trudeau was installed as Canada’s Prime Minister, following Queen Elizabeth II up the California coast during the 1983 El Nino, visiting Coloma on the very day of the 150^th anniversary of the Marshall/Sutter gold find, and getting caught up in the Giro d’Italia bicycle race in 1961!

Pogo’s interests were mostly history related: reading biographies and popular histories, visiting places she had read about, and particularly anything to do with the White House, Presidents and Founding Fathers, and First Ladies. She also liked true crime stories by Ann Rule (a form of puzzle), novels (and films thereof) by Lucy Maud Montgomery (Anne of Avonlea), Fannie Flagg, Maeve Binchy, and others. One of her favorite films was Blazing Saddles, but she had a very low tolerance for most silliness and slapstick. Her favorite TV shows were Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Antiques Roadshow (UK and US versions), Flea Market Flip and Mysteries at the Museum.

Pogo and Art moved permanently to Palm Desert in 2004 in order to be closer to their children. Pogo continued with her daily water aerobics, some tennis and plenty of social activities. Art died on March 29, 2007, and the bright spark went out of Pogo.

In the last 10 years, she was an active volunteer at the Southwest Thrift Store, and participated in the Red Hat Society, as well as keeping up with her friends Joanne Starling, Dick and Dottie Shelley, and many more. After a serious bout of pneumonia in February 2014, Pogo slowed down in most things, except talking on the phone. She loved to keep in touch with family and friends, so since she did not do email, facebook or other social media, nor even paper media much, she kept the telephone lines humming!
Pogo was preceded in death by her parents David and Ada New Humphries; her husband Capt. Arthur H. Barie (USN, Ret.), brothers David and Bill Humphries and sisters Dorothy Ringgold and Joyce Blanton; and daughter Clary.
She is survived by her children, granddaughter Jamie (Jed VanDen Bosch) and 3 great-grandchildren; dearly loved sisters Frances Sudderth, Margaret Bell, Jody Speer, Reba Barnes, and sister-in-law Mildred Barie; dozens of nieces and nephews and cousins; and friends all over the country.
Remembrances may be made to Island County Museum at 908 NW Alexander St. PO BOX 305 Coupeville, WA 98239. 360.678.3310 or http://wp.islandhistory.org/

A private inurnment will be in Midway Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Powder Springs, GA. Memorial services are pending.

 

Text by Viki Barie