Barbara "Bibs" (Dean) Warner

Barbara “Bibs” Dean Warner, age 95, passed away peacefully on February 21, 2022 at Kendal at Ithaca, her home for the last nine years.  She was born in Harpersfield, Ohio on April 1, 1926, the daughter of the late Lester G. Dean (b. Middletown, MD) and Helen Wilson Dean (b. Gerard, Ohio) She grew up on a large apple orchard in Geneva, OH with three sisters and two brothers. She earned her BS in nursing at Ohio State in a three-year intensive program during wartime and worked as a district nurse in Columbus, Ohio. She met her husband, Richard G. Warner (who predeceased her) at Ohio State and they were married June 12, 1949 and moved to Ithaca, New York where they made their home. She continued her nursing in the local migrant labor camps, taught women’s health at the Planned Parenthood clinic and was assistant organizer and instructor with the School of Practical Nursing at it’s inception in Ithaca.

Bibs was a civic-minded individual who was active in a wide range of organizations: The First Presbyterian Church, PTA, Ellis Hollow Community Center, Board of Directors of the Visiting Nurse Service, Community Home and Health Care, Ithacare and the Susquehanna Valley Presbytery. She was for many years a member of the Ladies Union Benevolent Society, the Board of the McGraw Housing Co. Inc., and PEO. She was president, over time, of all the above organizations and will be remembered for her empathetic ear, caring personality and strong leadership.

Bibs Warner was a creative and adventurous wife and mother who taught us all how to be kind, laugh, sing together, declare our boundaries, manage our finances, sew, garden, cook for a crowd, take risks and travel the world. Long before the Internet, Bibs organized fishing trips to Canada, two coast-to-coast camping trips, a VW campervan tour across Scandinavia and Europe and a thousand mile road trip from Pelotas to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She personally designed our unique mid-century modern house and woodland retreat that gave us an active indoor-outdoor childhood. Barbara Dean Warner is survived by her four daughters, Patricia Kurent (Jerome), Sherry Warner, Candace Warner (Luc Fafard), Tamara Ause (Bob), and six granddaughters Ayla (Jeff), Kira (Dustin), Megan (Adam), Emily, Angela (Cal) and Erica. Bibs leaves behind an extended Dean family of nieces and nephews and her sister and brother-in-law Janice and Gary Crittenden.

The immediate family will hold a private memorial service later in the year. Expressions of sympathy may be sent to the family by visiting our website at www.perkinsfh.com

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Bibs’ memory to P.E.O Educational Scholarships for women at www.donations.peointernational.org