Marion "Mimi" Monta Barnes

Marion “Mimi” Monta Barnes, 84, died peacefully at home on April 1, 2020, after experiencing a severe stroke early in March. She spent the three weeks after her stroke quietly at home with her family. Mimi was born in Portland, Maine, in November of 1935 to Ernest Lyman Mills and Laura Roe Mills. She had three older brothers who followed in their father’s footsteps to become ordained ministers. As a Methodist minister, Mimi’s father was moved from parish to parish throughout her childhood, so Mimi and her family lived in 10 homes before she left for college. It turns out that these moves and the skill of creating a warm and loving home in a new place every couple of years would serve Mimi well in her own family life. Mimi attended Boston University School of Nursing, where she was introduced to a lanky young man with the sweetest disposition. After graduating in the spring of 1953, Mimi worked as a visiting nurse in Boston, where she lived with her mother. Mimi married Frank Barnes in 1958 and began the process of building a home and family. Frank took a series of jobs that had him and the growing family moving from Boston to Cleveland, where her daughter Shirley was born, to Eastchester New York, where her daughter Leslie was born, to Warrington Pennsylvania where her only son David was born. All in all, Mimi created homes and settled her family 10 times before she and Frank finally retired. And in all these places over all this time, Mimi found faith communities and made life-long friends. One constant in her life through these moves was her love of the natural world and family camping trips, first to Vermont and then to Mount Desert Island, Maine, where the family camped for almost 20 years. MDI was one of Mimi’s favorite spots on earth, and she often spoke lovingly about her blueberry patch, the beautiful gardens of Thuya and Asticou, the salt spray from the mailboat on its way to the Cranberry Islands, and of course, all of the beloved friends she made along the way. When she and Frank retired in 1989 they decided to move to MDI and partner with campground owners and friends Barbara and Owen Craighead to open a camp store in the campground that they loved so much. To the delight of Mimi’s growing cadre of young grandchildren, the camp store was always stocked with hot cocoa and ice cream cones! Mimi and Frank found their “forever” home in 1994, a lovely log home tucked into the pines, boulders and mosses of the Somesville woods. This is the home that Mimi lived in the longest and loved the most. There are so many memories for her family and friends of dinners around the big round table, cozy fires on a winter evening, morning coffee on the wide wrap-around porch, lazy afternoons in the screen house, kayaking in the pristine ponds, and of course, her lovely gardens at every turn. In the fall Mimi and Frank hiked with the Footloose Friends, attended concerts, got to a few Red Sox games in Boston, and when they could manage it, went to visit their other favorite place in the world, Switzerland. When the upkeep of the log house became too much for Frank, they moved into a beautiful and special retirement community in Orono. For the remaining three years of Frank’s life, Mimi made this home a lovely, peaceful place of care and solace. She planted gardens that are stunning to this day and forged many special friendships. She cared for her lifelong partner with strength and patience and survived his death with the utmost grace. Leaving Orono and the last place she lived with Frank was a very hard decision for Mimi, but she knew that she would one day need care and wanted to be close to her daughters when that time came. She moved into the rectory of St. Augustine’s church on the campus of University of Rhode Island, and it was there that she found and rescued (and was rescued by) her beloved Salty dog. With the quiet patience and love that Mimi was known for, she helped Salty grow from a frightened, lonely dog who didn’t even know how to wag his tail into a joyful and loyal companion. In May of 2015, Mimi moved into her final home, a cottage in the Village at Wordens Pond. Once again, she turned a neglected piece of land around her house into beautiful gardens that delighted the neighborhood. And once again, Mimi made strong friendships with her neighbors in the village. Salty was thrilled to have so many dog neighbors, and the pair of them were a daily fixture on their walks around the neighborhood. Mimi was the spark that started the Liberty Puzzle craze in the village, and all who knew her were aware of her love of these special wooden puzzles. Mimi was a prolific letter and note-writer, and kept up her life-long friendships with this dying art. Her children and grandchildren have these mementos to keep and pore over time and again, a glimpse into Mimi’s life and thoughts. They also have many hand-knitted and hand-quilted treasures from Mimi’s skilled and loving hands. Mimi was not afraid to die, and after she had to put her beloved Salty down in January, it seemed that she knew that her time was close. She gave her children the gift of her time and openly shared her feelings about her life from beginning to end. Mimi suffered a serious stroke in mid-March, resulting in terrible head pain. Her decision to go into Hospice care was a thoughtful one, and it provided the pain relief she desperately needed. She was able to visit with both of her great-granddaughters just before the shelter-in-place orders were announced, and she delighted in the company of these children, who were so much a part of her. Once Mimi’s friends found out about her stroke and the seriousness of her condition, they wrote to her with the most lovely and heartfelt expressions of love and friendship. It was very clear that Mimi had made strong and beautiful impressions on those she called friends. Mimi took her last breaths in the late afternoon of April 1st, in the company of her two daughters and a stunning male cardinal on the bird feeder outside her window. She always believed that cardinals embodied the spirit of her Frankie, and so she would have smiled to know that she was escorted from this life in this way. Mimi is survived by her daughter Shirley Beuth of Wyoming, RI, and her husband Joe and their three children, Pete and his wife Anna Kate Hein (and Mimi’s newest great-grandchild, due in October), Josh, and Monica and her fiancé Tim Ferreira; her daughter Leslie and husband Mark Harris and their daughter Laura and her husband Coleman Motley and their two daughters Josie and Sylvia; and only son Dave and his wife Michelle and their three children, Charley, Dixie and Ridge. In addition, she leaves many beloved children and grandchildren of her three big brothers. In the age of Coronavirus, the date of a physical memorial service is uncertain, but we invite friends and family to post memories, tributes and photos on the funeral home website. In lieu of flowers, please make donations in her name to Hospice of Rhode Island (Hope Health; 1085 North Main Street, Providence, RI 02904) or St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church (15 Lower College Road, Kingston, RI 02881).