Barbara Fellows

Obituary for Barbara G. Fellows Barbara Estelle Goodwin, 97, of Columbus, Ohio, passed away on Saturday, May 24, 2025. Born in Boston to Morrell P. Goodwin and Estella (Gilchrist) Goodwin, she and her younger brother Win spent their childhood and young adulthood in the Boston area and Brunswick, Maine, where their maternal grandmother lived. Their father rode the train every day to work in Boston as a stockbroker; their mother, a homemaker, worked for a time at Filene’s Department Store. 

After graduating from Newton High School, Barbara attended Radcliffe (then the women’s school of Harvard University), majoring in Sociology, and living in the home of the Episcopal minister’s family. She met Alonzo “Lon” Fellows the summer of 1940 at a resort in Vermont where they both worked for the summer. Barbara - “Bobbie” - and Lon discovered they shared common ground beyond Harvard, and that was their love of Maine, where Lon spent much time at his family’s cottage on Southport.

Marrying soon after college, they attended graduate school together at Louisiana State University, and then at the Sorbonne in France. There, they cultivated a shared love of Impressionist painters and philosophical writers such as John-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir.

Back in the States, Lon began his career in insurance, and soon after, they became parents. Their daughter Deborah Liane Fellows was born, and a year and a half later, Roland Winthrop Fellows. Lon’s career took the family from Hartsdale, NY to Bethesda, MD, then to Chapel Hill and Durham, North Carolina, until in 1961 they settled in Mt. Lebanon, PA. 

There, Barbara’s volunteered at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, played bridge, and was active in philanthropic organizations. Their family enjoyed rich dining room table debates. Summers meant trips to Maine to the cottage, and visits with her brother and her parents along the way. As the children grew more independent, Barbara went back to graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh for an MA in Library Science, and quickly landed a job at the prestigious Carnegie Library. They moved to Columbus in 1972, and Barbara became Director of Business and Technology at the Main Branch of the Columbus Public Library. She became Assistant Director of Main Library in 1979, a position she held until her retirement in 1997.

In retirement, Barbara enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren, volunteering with the Literacy Council, teaching English as a Second Language, serving as a Board of Elections precinct judge, and volunteering at the Dublin library. Summers were spent in Southport from May to October, where she was involved with the All Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, the Southport Library, Lon’s nearby family, many visits from beloved friends, and swimming almost daily in the chilly waters of Maine.

Lon and Barbara traveled to six continents and exotic places like the Galapagos Islands. After Lon passed away in 2002, Barbara resolved to keep traveling, and continued to explore the world with friends, visiting over 100 countries until health issues limited her mobility. She continued to nurture her vitality through New York Times crosswords, news shows, Jeopardy, voracious reading, and rich visits with friends. 

Barbara Fellows is survived by her daughter Debbie Gregory (Phil), her son Roland Fellows (Karen Chakoian), her grandchildren Alexandra Medina (Fabian), Jonathan Humphreys (Kelley), and Nathan Fellows, and sister-in-law Ginny Goodwin. 

A service of thanksgiving and remembrance will be held Saturday, May 31 at 7:00 pm at Goodale Landing on the Westminster Thurber (Ohio Living) campus in the 8th floor Community Room. A service will also be held in Maine at a future date. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to All Saints-by-the-Sea, P.O. Box 377, Southport, ME 04576.