For Marian Barclift, gratitude was a part of everyday life. She believed that finding and sharing joy would attract positivity into her life. The numerous friends, family, and coworkers who mourned her passing are evidence that it worked for her. She passed away on November 27th, 2009, the day after that year’s Thanksgiving.
Her Baltimore Sun obituary describes the success she had as a teacher at Pimlico Junior High School, where former principal Samuel R. Billups observed that “Marian had an awareness of students and their concerns, and she knew how to reach out to them and get them to put their best foot forward.”
The obituary described Barclift’s impactful career. From 1975 until her retirement in 1990, she worked as a guidance counselor at Western High School, where the National Honor Society was renamed the Marian H. Barclift National Honor Society chapter.
Barclift was also active in the Sharp Street United Methodist Church. She served as president of the Naylor Hughes Fellowship, a service group within the church that produced “Our Book of Favorite Recipes” in 1994. Marian contributed several healthful and low-calorie dishes to the cookbook.
Barclift’s Baltimore Sun obituary was a good source of information about her work life and her involvement at the church. But I have more to go on. Thanks to the Enoch Pratt Free Library African American Funeral Programs Collection, I know that Marian was “the baby” of five girls, the youngest daughter of a postal worker and a teacher, and that her father recited Paul Laurence Dunbar poetry to the little girl: “Little brown baby with sparkling eyes, come to your pappy and sit on his knee…” Fittingly sweet words spoken to a person who later “radiated warmth in her lifetime relationships with her family and friends.”
