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Note: NI11 Barbara was the first child of John H. and Inez Carter Driscoll. She was five years old when her first brother was born and eight years old when her second brother was born. She was a pretty little girl as evidenced by the pictures taken by her Uncle David Driscoll.
As a teenager she was given responsibility for watching her younger brothers during the day, while her mother and father worked. This was a difficult task, as her brothers would tease her with bugs and spiders, which she was extremely scarred of. On one occasion she chased her brothers out of the house with a butcher knife and locked the doors so they couldn't get back in the house with their bugs. Barbara was also afraid of chickens. Grandpa Driskill raised chickens and the old rooster would chase her every time she went near him.
Barbara was a good student in both elementary and high school. She attended North End Elementary for seven tears, eighth grade at Franklin Street, and high school at Reidsville High School. All of these schools were in the Reidsville, NC public school system.
When she was fourteen, Barbara went to work part time at Rose's Department Store and then moved to Scott's Department Store. After graduation from high school, she worked for Sears Roebuck at the catalog store in Greensboro. While she worked at Sears, she went to business school in the evenings.
Barbara married soon after graduating from high school but this marriage didn't last very long. She then dated Gordon Neal, whom she had dated some during high school, and married him in 1961. Gordon was in the Navy at the time and they lived in Jacksonville, FL. When Gordon got out of the Navy, they moved into a trailer on Wolf Island Rd. in Reidsville and later built the house Gordon lives in today. After moving back to Reidsville, Barbara returned to Sears Roebuck in Greensboro.
After her son Douglas was born, Barbara went to work for First Citizens Bank in Reidsville for several years. She then went to work for the Rockingham County Clerk of Courts in Wentworth, NC until she took a medical retirement in 1995.
Barbara was diagnosed with cancer in 1973 and the doctors told her that she had about five years left to live. This diagnosis came after she and her mother returned from a trip to Idaho, where her brother Wayne lived. During this trip she went to Yellowstone National Park and other places in Idaho, Utah and Wyoming. Although she didn't feel well during this trip, she persevered to climb up the side of several ancient volcanos at Craters of the Moon National Landmark and toured many historical sites in Salt Lake City, Utah. All this time she was keeping the discomfort and pain she was feeling to herself. She later said that she should have gone to the doctor before the trip, but was afraid that she wouldn't be able to take the trip to Idaho. Over the next fourteen years she became known as Dr. Cobb's miracle case. She went through many bouts of chemotherapy treatments and took a lot of drugs to minimize the effect of the cancer. The thing that gave her the most strength was her faith in Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. Barbara was truly a saint. She was always doing good for others and putting everyone else's problems before her own.
Barbara was an excellent housekeeper and cook. She loved to travel and went with Gordon to many places including Williamsburg, Disney World, and in 1996 a second trip to Idaho. After her father died, they always asked her mother to go with them on these trips. On several occasions they went on trips when Barbara's brother Wayne was in the eastern part of the country for business or on vacation. They spent a week in Atlanta, GA and a week in Pigeon Forge, TN with Wayne. On another occasion, Barbara and her mother went with Wayne, Deanne, Charlotte and Justin to Nashville, TN for a week. Gordon didn't go to Nashville because he had been there before. When they all returned home and talked about what they did and how much fun they had, Gordon said he wished he had gone.
Gordon, Barbara and Inez went back to Idaho in 1996. This time they went to Yellowstone Park, Cody, Wyoming and Little Bighorn, Montana National Monument where General Custer died fighting the Indians. During this trip they encountered a blizzard while going across the mountains between Cody and Little Bighorn. When it was over Gordon said I'm sure glad I wasn't driving."
On Mother's Day 1997, Barbara died and went to be with her family that had gone before her. She was buried in Mt. Carmel Methodist Church Cemetery.
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