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Barbara (Elliott) Niles

Barbara (Elliott) Niles

SALISBURY — Barbara (Elliott) Niles, 82, died peacefully at home on Feb. 11, 2021, with her family at her side. She grew up in Needham and Osterville, Mass., and lived in Berkeley, Calif., and Washington, D.C., before settling in New York City with her lawyer husband. They found their weekend place in Salisbury in 1971.

Bar raised her own children while affectionately gathering others into her maternal embrace, creating a devoted extended family. She bristled at authority figures but reigned supreme in her own home! Bar was a voracious reader, Turner Classic Movies devotee and dog lover. Friends loved her for her irreverent sense of humor, strong opinions and generosity.

A fervent liberal concerned with social justice and environmental welfare, she worked at two nonprofits whose missions were to educate consumers and examine business practices that affected environmental conditions and public health. In midlife, Bar got her M.S.W., trained further as a psychoanalyst and enjoyed a fulfilling practice in Manhattan before moving to Salisbury full-time. 

She loved both the gentle, green contours of New England and the dramatic landscape of the Tetons where she spent 30 years regularly visiting and working on a friend’s ranch.

In retirement, Bar served on the boards of SVNA, The Salisbury Housing Trust, The Salisbury Land Trust and The Salisbury Association. 

Bar is survived by her younger brother, Kent; her daughter and son-in-law, Cathy and Pato; her son, Andy; her honorary daughters, Marina and Meg, and their respective spouses, Marc and Christopher, and de facto grandchildren Olivia, Isobel and Ian.

There will be no public memorial but donations may be made in her name to a local organization of your choice. She supported most of them!

Lakeville Journal

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