- Date Of Birth: June 12, 1936
- Date Of Death: May 4, 2023
- State: North Carolina
Barbara Ann Ottley was born in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands on June 12th, 1936. She was the third of three children born to Theodora Wells and Dennis Ottley. After her father passed away, Theodora remarried James Newton and they had four more children. After she graduated from Charlotte Amalie High School in 1953, she worked in the retail district in St.Thomas to earn money to come to New York City, where her older sisters had already relocated.
By 1959, Barbara had moved to Brooklyn, New York, worked in a laundromat and started her family. Barbara met her life companion, Clarence Patterson Sr. in 1966. They moved to Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn where they would reside for the next 52 years. raising their family, Bernard, Stephen, Clarence and Kesha. In the early 1980″‘s, Barbara went to work as a home health aide. She took gre at pride in taking care of her patients. In 1998 she retired.
Affectionately known as Miss Barbara, she was a pillar in the neighborhood. She was well respected. She was a mother to many of the neighborhood kids. She always said that ” my apartment may be small but it was always full of kids”. One of her greatest joys was watching the New York City Marathon runners go up Lafayette Avenue from her stoop surrounded by her grandchildren. That was a yearly tradition until she moved to North Carolina in 2020.
Barbara was preceded in death by her son Stephen Jurgen; sisters, Marjorie Ottley, Ilva Newton, Louisa (Tiny) Dewindt; brother Elridge Newton. Barbara Ottley is survived by her life companion, Clarence Patterson Sr.; three children, Bernard Ottley (Enola), Clarence Patterson Jr. and Kesha Mitchell (Lamont) Grandchildren, Jamar Ottley, Deshaun Ottley, Deshauna Ottley, Aisha Ottley, Tiesha Lewis, Rhayvin Grant, Breyanna Rhodes, Angenette Crume, Antoinette Crume Zaheer Burns and great- grandchildren, Alaiya Jade Ottley, Micah Yehudah, Nasir Dunlap – Harris, Nikayla Ottley, Jaden Ottley, Saniya Lewis, Skyla Awer, Khari Mingo, John (JT) Crume, Emmanuel Crume, two sisters, Clarice Codrington and Janet Newton-Griffith; and sister-in-law, Helen Newton and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Though the days may be dark, our mother is the guiding light.
