Eleanor M. Barnhart, former director of volunteer services at Sheppard Pratt Health System, died April 19 at the Edenwald retirement community in Towson of complications from dementia. She was 87.
"She was for years considered to be one of the few extraordinary leaders of volunteers at hospitals across the state," said Dr. Steve Sharfstein, head of Sheppard Pratt Health System. "She built a robust program and was a marvelous manager. Many, many looked up to her."
The daughter of Sherman F. Morris, a plasterer, and Ruth Miller Morris, the former Eleanor Lee Morris was born in Baltimore and raised on Belmont Avenue in Northwest Baltimore.
She was a 1945 graduate of Western High School and earned a bachelor's degree in social science in 1949 from the University of Maryland.
While at College Park, she met and fell in love with James Austin Barnhart, a highly decorated World War II veteran, who later became a prominent physical therapist and chief of physical therapy at Greater Baltimore Medical Center.
After marrying in 1950, the couple settled into a home on Schenley Road in Roland Park, and later moved to Roland Avenue in Ruxton. She taught in city public elementary schools from 1951 to 1953, when her first child was born and she stopped teaching.
In 1955, they purchased a home on Acorn Lane in Riderwood, where Mrs. Barnhart continued living after her husband's death in 2010. She has been a resident of Edenwald since 2012.
Mrs. Barnhart began her career in volunteer services at GBMC in 1967, and in 1970, moved to nearby Sheppard Pratt, where she became director of volunteer services, and coordinator of community activities and the women's auxiliary.
There was no volunteer program at the hospital until Dr. Robert W. Gibson, a seminal figure who headed Sheppard Pratt for more 30 years until retiring in 1991, started it in the 1960s.
During her 22-year tenure at Sheppard Pratt, the volunteer auxiliary program expanded to more than 200 volunteers who were responsible for patient care, recreation programs and operation of several shops that were on the grounds of the Towson hospital.
"She was appreciated by clinicians and administrators because she brought a cadre of volunteers to the hospital and its programs," said Dr. Sharfstein. "She and her volunteers were a great help to the care that we provide."
Mrs. Barnhart had served as president of the Maryland Council of Directors of Volunteer Services, and had also been an officer of the American Society of Directors of Volunteer Services.
Barbara A. Weldon, an Idlwylde resident, worked closely with Mrs. Barnhart at Sheppard Pratt as her secretary from 1973 until she retired in 1996.
"She was a mentor to me and then became a very good friend," said Mrs. Weldon.
"She was firm but fair with the volunteers because at first, some of them didn't know what they wanted to do," said Mrs. Weldon. "She had a particular ability at seeing the potential in a volunteer that they had no idea existed."
She said Mrs. Barnhart was able to build the program where she had 200 volunteers working a month.
"It was a marvelous group of people and the fact that I was fortunate to meet this extraordinary group was due to Eleanor," she said.
"She was a very straightforward lady and you always knew where you stood with her. She wasn't harsh but was very matter-of-fact," said Mrs. Weldon. "We had a marvelous working relationship through all the years."
Mrs. Barnhart retired in 1992.
Mrs. Barnhart was a member of Chapter K of P.E.O., a philanthropic educational organization and sisterhood. She was also a member of Well for the Journey, a Towson faith-based organization.
Mrs. Barnhart enjoyed her home in the woods on Acorn Lane, and enjoyed painting and sailing the Chesapeake Bay. She and her husband, who was a past commodore, vice commodore and fleet captain, were members of the Potapskut Sailing Association on the Magothy River.
Mrs. Barnhart was a longtime communicant of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, where she regularly attended 8 a.m. Sunday services. She also volunteered in the church office.
A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday at her church, Boyce and Carrollton avenues, Ruxton.
She is survived by a son, James Bradley "Brad" Barnhart of Towson; a daughter, Bonnie Barnhart Kramer of Centennial, Colo.; a sister, Mary Morris Sandrock of Parkton; and four grandchildren. Another son, Robert M. Barnhart, died in 2008.