Barbara Gray Saunders Smith passed away peacefully in her home on Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021.

She was born on July 16, 1951, in Newport News, to the late Lois Gilliam Saunders and William “Billy” Samuel Saunders. Barbara graduated from Smithfield High School, attended East Carolina University for her undergraduate education, and earned a master’s degree in special education from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. She started her professional career at Duke University, where she became a life-long Blue Devils basketball fan, and then worked for 33 years with SECEP Public School Consortium. Barbara loved working with her students.

Barbara is survived by her daughter, Rixey Gray Smith (Gerald), and grandson, Camden Blake Brown. Barbara’s celebration of life will be at 11 a.m., Saturday, March 6, 2021, at Parr Funeral Home & Crematory. The service will be streamed live on Parr Funeral Home’s Facebook page and will also be recorded for later viewing at any time on the Parr Funeral Home website. In lieu of flowers, donations in Barbara’s memory can be made to the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition (ovarian.org). Post condolences on parrfuneralhome.com.