Barbara Batchelder du Pont, 96, died peacefully at home April 27, 2021. She was the daughter of Charles Nathaniel Batchelder and Grace French Batchelder of Hanover, NH. She graduated from Dana Hall School and attended Pine Manor College and Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School, Boston.
In 1944 she married Irénée du Pont, Jr. At her husband’s various employment sites, she bore six children in five different cities. She served as a Gray Lady at veterans’ hospitals in Huntington, Long Island, NY and Orange, NJ. She was a member of the Junior Leagues in Parkersburg, WV, Charleston, WV and was president of the Wilmington, DE Junior League. She served as president of The Children’s Home, Inc., Planned Parenthood, and the Curative Workshop, all of Wilmington. She never gained weight, wore nice clothes and seldom used make-up. Above all, she loved her family. Her tabletops are crowded with framed family photographs. She also enjoyed sailing on the skipjack, “Barbara Batchelder”, tennis, golf, bridge, puppets, motorcycling, worn out shoes and blunt pencils.
Barbara was predeceased by her daughter Suzanne, her son Irénée, 3rd and her brother, Charles Carpenter Batchelder.
She is survived by her husband of 77 years, daughter-in-law Eugenie Collison du Pont of Hockessin, DE, her daughters Irene Light (Tom) of Lime Rock, CT, Cynthia Tobias (Terry) of Chadds Ford, PA, Sally Quinn (Rob) of Winchester, MA and Grace Engbring (Paul) of Telluride, CO, thirteen grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren.
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