Obituary for Joan Barham McCormick
Joan Barham McCormick, 83, went to be with the Lord on Thursday, February 25th , 2021 in Black Mountain, North Carolina.
She hailed from Danville, Virginia and spent the majority of her childhood in Newport News with her parents, Floyd and Gladys Cabaniss. She later moved to Richmond to attend the Medical College of Virginia, School of Pharmacy. It was there where she publicly gave her life over to the Lord while attending a Billy Graham crusade. She married Sidney J. Barham in 1956, and together they had one daughter and two sons. When Sid passed away in 1970, Joan and her three children moved to Montreat, North Carolina. In 1980, she married William McCormick, and together they had one daughter.
Joan decided to further her medical education and obtained a nursing degree at age 40. She often joked you can, in fact, “teach an old dog new tricks”. Despite her numerous achievements, she noted she was most proud to be appointed the Director of Nursing at the Aston Park Health Care Center, followed by serving our country’s veterans for the last 20 years of her medical career in various care and leadership roles in the Veterans Health Administration for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Even after retirement, she volunteered her medical expertise with the Mountain States Health Alliance Parish.
Next to giving glory to God in all, and her incredible dedication to family and many friends, nursing was Joan’s true passion – not just of the body, but of the mind and soul as well. Even in her final years, the nursing staff that cared for her often sought her words of wisdom on matters of both the job and the heart.
She enjoyed educating others in all things medical, holistic, and spiritual. Her actions were indicative that she took Jesus’ commandment of loving God and loving people to absolute heart. She was the best listener, and even in some of her own toughest days one would rarely hear her utter a single complaint.
While Joan thoroughly enjoyed traveling, her favorite earthly place was the beautiful mountain cove village of Montreat. She loved all things angels, most anything that contained real lemon, Coca-Cola over crushed ice, Russell Stover dark chocolate, figure skating, uncontrollable laughter, the Appalachian Mountains, rhododendrons, roses, colorful fall leaves, pine trees, and making floral arrangements – just to name a few. She would admit she was a pushover for a sale, but as a result, was the champion at making the world’s best Christmas stockings. She genuinely loved giving and helping others, even if it meant giving them her very last dollar or handing them a bag of food from her car during her travels.
However, what Joan loved most of all was Jesus. She was proud of her Jewish roots and wanted the whole world to know about the saving love of Jesus Christ, Messiah Yeshua. Her belief and relationship with The Holy Trinity was the most important relationship of all to her. Proverbs 3:5-6 was her favorite passage, and in the months before her death she was in the process of memorizing Psalm 91.
She is survived by her children, daughter Linda Cabaniss Barham Simons, son Jay Barham and his wife Beth, son Jeff Barham and his wife Laura, and daughter Marti McCormick, and her grandchildren, Mrs. Lacey Miller, Ms. Rachel Barham, Mr. Alex Barham, Ms. Sidney Barham, Ms. Joan Barham, and Mr. Isaac Joel Barham Simons, as well as three great-granddaughters, Sadie, Olivia, and Myleigh.
A celebration of life and committal service will be conducted by her family and friends on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021 at 1:00pm Eastern before she is laid to rest with her late husband, William, at the Mountain Home National Cemetery in Mountain Home, Tennessee.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in memoriam to the Vasculitis Foundation www.vasculitisfoundation.org.
She hailed from Danville, Virginia and spent the majority of her childhood in Newport News with her parents, Floyd and Gladys Cabaniss. She later moved to Richmond to attend the Medical College of Virginia, School of Pharmacy. It was there where she publicly gave her life over to the Lord while attending a Billy Graham crusade. She married Sidney J. Barham in 1956, and together they had one daughter and two sons. When Sid passed away in 1970, Joan and her three children moved to Montreat, North Carolina. In 1980, she married William McCormick, and together they had one daughter.
Joan decided to further her medical education and obtained a nursing degree at age 40. She often joked you can, in fact, “teach an old dog new tricks”. Despite her numerous achievements, she noted she was most proud to be appointed the Director of Nursing at the Aston Park Health Care Center, followed by serving our country’s veterans for the last 20 years of her medical career in various care and leadership roles in the Veterans Health Administration for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Even after retirement, she volunteered her medical expertise with the Mountain States Health Alliance Parish.
Next to giving glory to God in all, and her incredible dedication to family and many friends, nursing was Joan’s true passion – not just of the body, but of the mind and soul as well. Even in her final years, the nursing staff that cared for her often sought her words of wisdom on matters of both the job and the heart.
She enjoyed educating others in all things medical, holistic, and spiritual. Her actions were indicative that she took Jesus’ commandment of loving God and loving people to absolute heart. She was the best listener, and even in some of her own toughest days one would rarely hear her utter a single complaint.
While Joan thoroughly enjoyed traveling, her favorite earthly place was the beautiful mountain cove village of Montreat. She loved all things angels, most anything that contained real lemon, Coca-Cola over crushed ice, Russell Stover dark chocolate, figure skating, uncontrollable laughter, the Appalachian Mountains, rhododendrons, roses, colorful fall leaves, pine trees, and making floral arrangements – just to name a few. She would admit she was a pushover for a sale, but as a result, was the champion at making the world’s best Christmas stockings. She genuinely loved giving and helping others, even if it meant giving them her very last dollar or handing them a bag of food from her car during her travels.
However, what Joan loved most of all was Jesus. She was proud of her Jewish roots and wanted the whole world to know about the saving love of Jesus Christ, Messiah Yeshua. Her belief and relationship with The Holy Trinity was the most important relationship of all to her. Proverbs 3:5-6 was her favorite passage, and in the months before her death she was in the process of memorizing Psalm 91.
She is survived by her children, daughter Linda Cabaniss Barham Simons, son Jay Barham and his wife Beth, son Jeff Barham and his wife Laura, and daughter Marti McCormick, and her grandchildren, Mrs. Lacey Miller, Ms. Rachel Barham, Mr. Alex Barham, Ms. Sidney Barham, Ms. Joan Barham, and Mr. Isaac Joel Barham Simons, as well as three great-granddaughters, Sadie, Olivia, and Myleigh.
A celebration of life and committal service will be conducted by her family and friends on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021 at 1:00pm Eastern before she is laid to rest with her late husband, William, at the Mountain Home National Cemetery in Mountain Home, Tennessee.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in memoriam to the Vasculitis Foundation www.vasculitisfoundation.org.