16
In Memoriam
Evelyn Dobson Barriger (1930–2014)
At LUMA, we knew
her as “Evie.” She was
a member of the first
docent class ever held
at the Martin D’Arcy
Museum of Art more
than 20 years ago when
the museum was still
on Loyola’s Lake Shore
Campus. She was an
incredible woman,
and I feel such joy at having known her since moving
to Chicago in 2003. But I write with sadness that I am
speaking of Evie in the past tense.
I have worked with hundreds of dedicated, passionate
art museum volunteer docents since 1991, and Evie was
in the top 1%. She did indeed live up to her title, master
docent. She not only conducted tours, she also embraced
the role of educator with LUMA visitors from 5 to 105,
taking delight in showing the museum to the thousands
of visitors she toured at the D’Arcy Museum and at LUMA.
I first met Evie in 2003, when she was a docent at the
Terra Museum of American Art. For the short sixteen
months we worked there together before the museum
closed, I did not know that she was a docent at the
D’Arcy Museum as well. You cannot imagine how excited
I was to see her smiling face at my first LUMA docent
training class in July 2005.
Evie’s last day with us at LUMA was the first of two
docent training sessions for the Gorey exhibitions
in January this year. She never made it to the second
training a month later, nor did she ever see the artist’s
realistic and fantastic animals. She would have delighted
in showing LUMA visitors on the last Tuesday of each
month all of Gorey’s work, especially his delightful cats.
When my cell phone rang on September 4, and I saw
Jack’s name, I knew what he was going to say. He
shared the news that Evie had died peacefully at home
surrounded by her family, after a courageous battle
against glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer. Jack
spoke tearfully about Evie’s last day. His thought to call
me so soon after the death of his beloved wife of 58 (!)
years is a testament to what LUMA meant to Evie.
Evie, adored by everyone at LUMA—docents, volunteers,
students, visitors, and staff alike—would be embarrassed
that we are making such a fuss. In her eyes, Evie was
“just” Evie. But in ours, being “just” Evie meant kindness,
a sense of purpose, a love of critters, a great spirit, and
wonderful energy. Those big sunglasses, themed pins,
pantsuits, and mussed up hair from riding her Mercedes
convertible with the top down will always stay with me.
Evie was a person filled with
warmth for others, and had a
special fondness for animals and
for her favorite holiday season,
Christmas. She was the first
person I thought of when Lupe,
LUMA’s manager of the Museum
Shop, showed me the book,
A Guinea Pig Nativity
. At the
back of this delightful book in the Dramatis Personae
section, the First Wise Man is named Evie, who can be
seen in the middle of the cover photograph. The book
will be available in the Museum Shop when
Art and Faith
of the Crèche: The James and Emilia Govan Collection
opens to the public on Saturday, November 8. We will
miss Evie, for this exhibition in particular. She always
looked forward to the show, and she and Jack were
sponsors of several crèches over the last five years.
In honor of this extraordinary woman, LUMA has
established the Evelyn Dobson Barriger Docent Fund to
send a LUMA docent to the biennial National Docent
Symposium; the next one is in Cincinnati in September
2015. The outpouring of gifts to her fund has been in
itself a sign that she was loved by so many that were
touched by her warm, wonderful spirit.
Ann Meehan
Curator of Education
Loyola University Museum of Art
