Your Incredible Neighbors: Green Valley residents reflect on their lives as missionaries

Strong academic backgrounds may have drawn Ed and Natalie Barber together, or it may have been their mutual interests in travel and adventure—and a calling to be missionaries.

Having moved 30 times in 55 years, the Barbers have been Green Valley residents for 13 years and have called La Posada home since September 2006.

Born in Bennington, Vt., Ed got his B.A. from the University of Vermont where he majored in business administration. He earned his Master’s in high school administration from Syracuse University.

Natalie, from New York State, also attended the University of Vermont where she majored in zoology—and met Ed.



Their education and combined interests in travel and adventure were just the right mix for missionary work in South America and Spain. When an offer came from the Methodist Board of Missions to go to Bolivia, the Barbers’ lives took on new meaning. Spending a few months at Scarritt College in Nashville, they learned basic Spanish phrases, how to bargain in South American markets, Bible instruction and other survival techniques before beginning their new lives.

Involved in the Conference Course of Study in Bolivia for five years while he taught, did administrative and pastoral work, Ed said, “If you have enough skills they’ll use you; there’s never enough people.”

In 2002, they were recognized for 50 years of service with the United Methodist Church. Neither had been members of the Methodist Church before being called. Ed belonged to a small-town Congregational Church; Natalie to an Episcopalian Church.

“There was no problem changing,” Ed said, “There were no strong connections.” He later studied at Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill. for a year while Natalie studied journalism at Northwestern University. Using her skills, she became editor of Highland Echoes, a publication mailed to 8,000 homes in the U.S. about Methodist missionary work in Bolivia.

Rewarding, dangerous work

Asked what was personally rewarding about their missionary work, Natalie recalled the wonderful reception in Chile and the warmth and friendliness of the people. “We went back in 2005 for the 140th anniversary of the Iquique English College; an elementary and secondary school that emphasized English. We were told our work had changed their lives.”

Ed said, “Early on I wanted to be in social work; I felt very comfortable in South America.”

Iquique is in the Atacama Desert, said to be the driest in the world. They lived with the uncertainties of on-again, off-again supplies of water, electricity and natural gas pressure. Gone were the days of assuming basic essentials would always be available.

The Barbers’ two children were born in Chile, grew up in Bolivia and were teenagers in Spain. Today, Mark is an electrical engineer in Tucson and Joanne teaches pre-kindergarten in Austin, Texas.

Rewarding as the work may have been, Ed recalled dangers in Bolivia in 1967 when there was a socialist revolutionary movement led by Ch/ (Ernesto) Guevara. Still vivid in Natalie’s memory was a time when she was riding in a friend’s van and the two were caught in an uprising in La Paz.

“There was general disorder and tear gas… we were caught…” she remembers. But with fortitude and some moxey her friend forged ahead, up and over barriers, and the two reached safe ground successfully.

Of their rewarding and dangerous adventures, Ed said, “You need to have the ability to handle crises and situations without going into a frenzy.”

Onto Spain and Arizona

A call to take over a troubled office in Madrid, Spain with the Cuban Refugee Service led to two and a half years of service there. After a return to La Paz, , the Barbers were offered six months in Sedona, Ariz.. That was their genesis for eventually settling in the state. In 2003, Natalie published a 116-page book, “Passport to Faith— Adventure and the Search for Meaning.”

“We did not go forth with the backing of a lot of prayers. But we went, and we’re glad we did,” she wrote in the preface. In chapter one she describes their mutual hopes… “Edward Barber and I were seniors at the University of Vermont and almost engaged in March 1949, when we were walking back to my dorm after a date….

“‘I’ve had a secret dream to become a missionary,’” I said, and then wished I could retract my words. He stopped walking and turned toward me, looking thoughtful. ‘That’s funny,’ he said.’I’ve always wanted to be a missionary too.’”

Missionary work still fills their hearts. At the end of July the Barbers will travel to Little Rock, Ark. to attend a reunion for missionaries who served in Bolivia.

A dream granted, a calling realized and a life fulfilled, Ed and Natalie Barber are available for talks and book signings. Call them at 648-8307.

Ellen Sussman is a freelance writer for the Green Valley News. Contact her at ellen2414@cox.net Comment on this story online at www.gvnews.com