Miriam Cohen Barrie

age 95 and formerly of Rancho Bernardo, California and St. Paul, Minnesota, died February 22, 2014 after a brief illness. She passed away peacefully, surrounded by family at MetroWest Hospital in Framingham, Massachusetts. Her parents were William and Florence Cohen of Duluth, MN and her husband of 47 years until his death in 1995, was Dr. Harold Barrie, a dentist and B’nai B’rith leader in St. Paul, MN.

Miriam is survived by her sister, Helen Sall, of Sacramento, CA and formerly of Larchmont, NY; her daughter, Michelle Barrie, of Watertown, MA, her son and daughter-in-law, Lee and Cindy (nee Kurman) Barrie of Chicago, IL; sister-in-law Deborah Baronofksy, of Scottsdale, AZ and formerly of San Diego, CA; nephews Louis Sall (Lorraine) of Sacramento, California; Sherman Sall (Esti), who recently moved to Switzerland; Dr. Ian Baronofsky (Laura) of Austin, Texas; Dr. Sam Baronofsky of San Francisco, CA; two grand-nieces and two grand-nephews.

Miriam was born in 1918 in St. Paul, MN and grew up in Duluth, MN. She earned her bachelor’s degree at St. Scholastica College in Duluth and later, earned her Master of Social Work degree at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. She was head of the Medical Social Work department at Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis and for many years was a psychiatric social worker at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Minneapolis. She developed a close bond with many of her professional colleagues, many of whom became lifelong friends.

Miriam was a longtime member of Mt. Zion Temple in St. Paul and a member of Hadassah and Brandeis Women. An avid reader and lover of the performing arts, she was a supporter of the Minneapolis Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Tyrone Guthrie Theater. She and Harold enjoyed many international voyages together.

In the mid-1980s Miriam and Harold retired to Rancho Bernardo, California, where she continued an active life. She was involved with her synagogue, Adat Shalom in Poway, California and served as president of her local chapter of NARFE (National Association of Retired Federal Employees). After the death of her husband in 1995 she moved to Seacrest Village in Poway, California, where she lived among many great friends, until she moved to Framingham, MA in 2011 to be near her daughter.

She was an excellent gourmet cook, and prepared many wonderful meals for her family and friends. Miriam was a gentle, caring and socially conscious woman, always with a kind, thoughtful word and a deep intellectual curiosity. She continued to be an avid news and political aficionado until her final illness.

Graveside funeral services will be held at 3 p.m., Friday February 28, 2014 at El Camino Memorial Park, 5600 Carroll Canyon Road, in San Diego, CA 92121 (Phone: 800-352-2646). Donations in her memory can be sent to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (www.nami.org).