Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY – Staff
Barbara Faulkner: Teacher, Housemother,
Office Bookkeeper, 1932-1937
Barbara Wilbur Faulkner (1911-2002)

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TAGS: Barbara Wilbur Faulkner, Barbara Page Wilbur Faulkner, teachers, Chapel wedding, Oradelle Malan, James (Jim) Levant Faulkner

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BARBARA WILBUR FAULKNER Staff

Barbara Faulkner: Teacher, Housemother,
Office Bookkeeper, 1932-1937

Barbara Wilbur (Faulkner) came to Pine Mountain after graduating from Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, in 1932 with a BA degree in English and a minor in religion. Barbara worked in various positions at the Pine Mountain Settlement School (PMSS) during the 1930s. Over a period of approximately five years beginning in 1932, she served as a teacher, housemother, and as the bookkeeper in the School’s Office. In addition, the student publication, Pine Cone, of February 1936, mentions her help with costuming and makeup for the senior play, “The Valiant.”

Barbara’s application for a position at Pine Mountain School and the arrangements she made to travel there for the first time are recorded in her correspondence with Glyn Morris, PMSS Director at the time. To view the images and a list of contents of her letters, go to BARBARA WILBUR FAULKNER CORRESPONDENCE.

On November 9, 1933, Barbara married co-worker James (Jim) L. Faulkner of Tonawanda, New York, a mechanics instructor at the School from 1933 to 1937. The ceremony took place in the Chapel. Oradelle Malan, a PMSS English teacher who was also involved in the Pine Cone, folk dancing and stage productions, served as her Maid of Honor. Acting as Best Man was Oscar Kneller, PMSS farmer, who remained in touch with the Faulkners for many years.

Barbara has been described as “a very loving, caring and giving person, with a friendly and bubbly personality,” traits that likely contributed to her having many close and lasting friendships. Two couples who worked at Pine Mountain during Barbara’s time, William and Fern Hall Hayes and August and Susie Hall Angel, continued to correspond with and visit Barbara and Jim throughout the years after Pine Mountain. Barbara’s daughter, Martha Faulkner Fenno, recalls:

Fern Hayes was a student at Pine Mountain when my parents were there. When we gave a surprise 50th-anniversary party in Rangeley (Maine) for my parents, Fern and Bill hopped in a car with August and Sue Angel to attend the celebration. That was the first time I had met them, although August and Sue had long been among our ties to the Kentucky Mountain part of our heritage; we visited them on a trip to Pine Mountain when I was 5 years old, and I spent some time with them the summer I graduated from college. I remember visiting the Hayes’ lovely home on a later trip, and again when we returned to Pine Mountain with our daughter, Sarah, the year after my mother died [2003].

August Angel wrote in his memoir:

Bill and Fern were ex-students and ex-employees of Pine Mountain School and neighbors of ours in Viper. On the occasion of the Faulkners’ 50th wedding anniversary in 1985, Bill, Fern, Susie, and I paid them a surprise visit in Rangeley, Maine. In 1993, Susie and I visited Barbara in Mt. Vernon, Maine.

BARBARA WILBUR FAULKNER: After Pine Mountain

After leaving PMSS, Barbara and Jim made their home in Tonawanda, New York, where she became a full-time housewife, raising two daughters and a son. In 1946, the Faulkners moved to Mexico, Maine, where Jim worked as an engineer in the paper industry. Later, they lived in several towns in Maine, including Readfield and Millinocket, and then settling in Mt. Vernon for the last 33 years.

After her children entered high school, Barbara brushed up on her teaching skills at Boston University’s summer school and then resumed her teaching career full-time, working with kindergarten students.

In her earlier years in Maine, Barbara enjoyed downhill skiing and then cross-country skiing long into her 80s. According to her obituary, “As recently as 1998, at age 87, Barbara fulfilled a lifelong dream of visiting Egypt, exploring the pyramids, and even riding a camel.”

BARBARA WILBUR FAULKNER: Her Family

Barbara Page Wilbur Faulkner was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, on July 17, 1911, the daughter of Willard E. Wilbur, a clerk from Westmoreland, New Hampshire, and the former Florence Bemis from Somerville. (Barbara was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution through the lineage of the Bemis family.)

Barbara and James Levant Faulkner had three children: Timothy Willis Faulkner (1942-2015) of Augusta, Maine, Hannah Faulkner of Mt. Vernon, Maine, and Martha Faulkner (Mrs. Stephen) Fenno of Windham, Maine.

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Barbara lost her husband in 1990 after 57 years of marriage. She was 90 years old when she died on May 13, 2002, in Farmington, Maine. She was survived by her older brother, Vincent Wilbur of Marblehead, Maine, her children, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

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See Also:
JAMES L. FAULKNER Biography
BARBARA WILBUR FAULKNER Correspondence

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Title	Barbara Wilbur Faulkner
Alt. Title	Barbara Wilbur ; Barbara Faulkner ; Barbara Page Wilbur Faulkner ; “Barbie” Faulkner ; Mrs. James L. Faulkner ; “Barby” Faulkner ;
Identifier	https://pinemountainsettlement.net/?page id=35704
Creator	Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY
Alt. Creator	Ann Angel Eberhardt ; Helen Hayes Wykle ;
Subject Keyword	Barbara Wilbur Faulkner; Barbara Wilbur ; Barbara Page Wilbur Faulkner ; Pine Mountain Settlement School ; teachers ; bookkeepers ; Pine Cone ; James (Jim) Levant Faulkner ; Chapel ; Oradelle Malan ; William and Fern Hall Hayes ; August and Susie Hall Angel ; Martha Faulkner Fenno ; Wheaton College ; Boston University ; kindergarten ; skiing ; Willard E. Wilbur ; Florence Bemis Wilbur ; DAR ; Timothy Willis Faulkner ; Hannah Faulkner ; Vincent Wilbur ; Rangeley, ME ; Mt. Vernon, ME ; Tonawanda, NY ;
Subject LCSH	Faulkner, Barbara Page Wilbur, — 1911 – 2002. Pine Mountain Settlement School (Pine Mountain, Ky.) — History. Harlan County (Ky.) — History. Education — Kentucky — Harlan County. Rural schools — Kentucky — History. Schools — Appalachian Region, Southern.
Date	2016-07-17 aae
Publisher	Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY
Contributor	Martha Faulkner Fenno
Type	Collections ; text ; image ;
Format	Original and copies of documents and correspondence in file folders in filing cabinet
Source	Series 09: Biography – Staff/Personnel
Language	English
Relation	Is related to: Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections, Series 09:  Biography – Staff/Personnel
Coverage Temporal	1911 – 2002
Coverage Spatial	Pine Mountain, KY ; Harlan County, KY ; Tonawanda, NY ; Rangeley, ME ; Mt. Vernon, ME ; Norton, MA ; Mexico, ME ; Readfield, ME ; Millinocket, ME ; Boston, MA ; Egypt ; Somerville, MA ; Augusta, ME ; Windham, ME ; Farmington, ME ; Marblehead, ME ; Westmoreland, NH :
Rights	Any display, publication, or public use must credit the Pine Mountain Settlement School. Copyright retained by the creators of certain items in the collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Donor	n/a
Description	Core documents, correspondence, writings, and administrative papers of Barbara Wilbur Faulkner ; clippings, photographs, books by or about Barbara Wilbur Faulkner ;
Acquisition	n/d
Citation	“[Identification of Item],” [Collection Name] [Series Number, if applicable]. Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers. Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY.
Processed By	Helen Hayes Wykle ; Ann Angel Eberhardt ;
Last Updated	2016-07-18 aae ;  2020-09-06 aae
Bibliography	Sources Angel, August D. Trivia & Me. London, KY: August David Angel, 2007. Print. Barbara Faulkner Obituary. Genealogybuff, com. http://www.genealogybuff.com/ucd/webbbsconfig.pl/ noframes/read/2511 [accessed 2016-07-18]. Internet resource. “Faulkner, Barbara.” Guide to PMSS Workers 1913-2000s. Series 09: Staff/Personnel. Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers. Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY. Internet resource. Fenno, Martha Faulkner. Email to Helen Hayes Wykle, July 11, 2016. Internet resource. “Massachusetts Births, 1841-1915”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FXVQ-JJK : 1 March 2016), Barbara Page Wilbur, 1911. Internet resource.

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