Janet H. Harrington

Janet Harrington, age 91, formerly of Wilmington, Delaware, died on Sunday, March 23, at the Carleton-Willard Village nursing facility in Bedford, MA.

Born in 1916, she was the daughter of the late Niles Theodore and Eleanora Holmgren. Raised in Amityville, NY. She attended Syracuse University and Keuka College, where she actively served on the board of trustees from 1966-1981, four years as board chair. Including her tenure as trustee emerita, her leadership and generous support of Keuka College spanned four different administrations. In 1987 Keuka College awarded her an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

After college, she lived and worked in Penn Yan, NY marrying Captain Keith Tilson Barden USMC in 1942. Captain Barden died at Okinawa in 1945.�She married Willis F. Harrington, Jr. in Penn Yan in 1953. The Harrington's lived in Youngstown, NY for eight years before E.I. DuPont Company transferred them to Wilmington, Delaware in 1961.

While in Wilmington, she was active in numerous civic organizations.�She was on the Board of Directors at the YWCA of New Castle County from 1965-1970. She also served on the altar guild of Christ Church Christiana Hundred, volunteered for the Junior Board at the Delaware Hospital, and was a member of the Delaware Swedish Colonial Society, contributing to the construction of the Kalmar Nyckel, a replica of the 17th century Swedish ship which landed at The Rocks on the Delaware River.

Her many interests included collecting American decorative arts with her husband Willis and membership in the Collector's Circle and The Friends of Winterthur at Winterthur Museum and Gardens. She was an accomplished fly fisherman and enjoyed playing golf and bridge. She used her proficiency with hand sewing to craft original costumes with her husband for masquerades like the annual Beaux Arts Ball at the Delaware Art Museum - memorable examples being French poodles and Helga & Hagar.

She leaves behind many family members who filled her life with purpose: her son, Douglas Holm Barden and his wife Joycelyn of Baton Rouge, LA and her daughter Lisa Harrington Foote and her husband George of Carlisle, MA. Her older brothers, Ted and Jack Holmgren predeceased her. Siblings remaining are Harvey Holmgren of Sebastian, FL, Robert Holmgren of Vero Beach, FL, and Virginia Sparke of Holbrook, NY. Grandsons Trip Barden of Wyoming, Watts Barden of Idaho, Keith Barden of Florida, Tully Foote of California, and Tudor Foote of Carlisle, MA, her 2 great-grandsons and her 20 nieces and nephews mourn her loss.

Interment will be private in the Wilmington & Brandywine Cemetery, Wimington, DE.