Eugenia Marie Barnaba

Eugenia (Jeannie) Marie Barnaba passed away on Saturday, May 3 in Ithaca, NY. Jeannie fought a short but intense battle with pancreatic cancer and spent her last days in the place she had volunteered for and served for many years – Hospicare Center on East King Road in Ithaca.

Jeannie was born on June 9, 1936 in Binghamton, NY and grew up with her family in the Italian neighborhood. Jeannie was proud of her Italian heritage and talked often about her family’s rich religious life as faithful Catholics with weekly Mass and celebrating Feast days. Her father had an apple delivery business. He would travel to Warren County, load crates of apples, and Jeannie and her siblings would be conscripted to help unload, pack and weigh the fruit which would be delivered to the local A&P. They spent all of the holidays with extended family, which included many cousins, one of which to whom Jeannie became godmother

Jeannie graduated from North High School in 1954 and worked for several years for ANSCO (eventually GAF). She loved to travel and was inspired to join the foreign service. After writing to her congressman W. Sterling Cole, grandfather-in-law to Meg Cole who later in life would become Jeannie’s friend and colleague, she began a period of service with postings in Luxembourg, Switzerland and Liberia.

It was while she served in Africa, that her passion for African culture and music began, and she returned several times to visit mission posts she supported throughout her life.

After Jeannie left the foreign service, she lived and worked at Greek Peak for several years, first on staff and then as owner of the The Rafters Cafe, which she co-owned with Jean Hope who became a life-long friend and for whom Jeannie cared until her passing. During her time there she also became owner of a donkey named Bambino (Bino, for short) who had been left on the property. She loved animals, especially cats, and was a strong supporter of the Rosamund Gifford Zoo in Syracuse. She was thrilled when on her last trip to the zoo she got to see the new baby elephants.

Jeannie sold The Rafters in 1967 and worked for a time at Cortland County Community Center before she became employed at Cornell University. She began her association with Cornell working with aerial mapping for the agricultural school. After a few years, she decided to matriculate and went on to receive her BS in 1975 and her MPS in 1977, in Agricultural Economics from Cornell.

Jeannie was instrumental in establishing a newly combined unit called Cornell Laboratory for Environmental Applications of Remote Sensing (CLEARS) administered by Warren Philipson and Bill Philpot. The unit later became Cornell IRIS, Institute for Resource Information Sciences.

Jeannie’s work focused specifically on resource inventory and involved the collection of data and management of land use and protection using remote sensing tools and maps. She interacted with federal government agencies, educators, youth, planners, engineers and private individuals. Her work also included development of relationships with state agencies responsible for the mapping and monitoring of natural resources, specifically agricultural landscapes and freshwater and tidal wetlands resources. Her outreach included the Hudson River project and the Ohio Project, working with the National Estuary Research Reserve System.

Jeannie’s work was partially sponsored by an NSF grant and she published several articles on her work with Hudson River project, as well as articles on Applications of Remote Sensing to Sources of Pollutions in the Coastal Environment and on Land Use and Land Cover Mapping in NY.

Jeannie was a member of the Cornell University Council on the Environment (COE), serving on the Inservice Education Committee. She also was a member of the Board of Directors for Cornell Cooperative Extension. She served on the United Way board for many years, and was involved with the mentorship program with graduate students at the Johnson School.

Jeannie became a member of the Professional Business Women’s Association (BPW) in 1978, along with Lynnette Scofield. Their moment of waiting together in the bathroom of The Valley House to learn of their acceptance to the Association was the beginning of a long friendship, which eventually became a foursome including Beverly Baker and Rachel Pierce. Jeannie had a passion for encouraging women in professional careers, as well as anyone seeking to improve their lives and find opportunities. One of the first of her many hires at Cornell was Susan Hoskins, who became a friend and colleague. After Jeannie’s retirement, Susan and others continued the work Jeannie established.

As president of BPW, Jeannie initiated projects such as the business women’s exchange, all women-owned businesses, and a directory of women-owned businesses, projects which won national recognition and honors.

Through her work with BPWA she became a founding member of GLEF, New York’s Grace LeGendre Endowment Fund. She was active with the Endowment Fund through the end of her life. Indeed she was collecting applications for the next round of scholarships to be awarded when she passed away.

Jeannie was a dedicated supporter of Ithaca’s hospice center, Hospicare. She volunteered for the Center for more than 15 years and was voted Volunteer of the Year in 2016. She began her work there as an assistant to Lisa Miller, the chief gardener. Their work together became the genesis for a life-long friendship, and Lisa became the creator and caretaker of the beautiful gardens on Jeannie’s home property.

Jeannie always connected her scientific and research work with people. She excelled at bringing people together and getting good work done. For her, the work was always about connecting the people to the land, helping them to understand and make better choices about land management. Those who worked with her described her skills as outstanding organizer, great manager of people, strategic, making it work.

Jeannie had a beautiful singing voice and enjoyed contributing her talent for many years within the Ithaca community. She joined the choir and served as cantor at her home church – St. Catherine of Siena Parish. She also sang with Finger Lakes Women’s Chorale and it’s reincarnation, Bella Voce, both under the direction of Doreen Alsen. And she began taking voice lessons in her later years because she wanted to be able to continue singing as long as she could. She continued lessons right up until the time of her illness.

For anyone who knows Jeannie, they would say that her faith was the most important aspect of her life. She was a dedicated parishioner at St. Catherine, and as noted earlier, was a member of the choir and served as cantor. Her beautiful voice stayed strong until the end of her life – indeed, she was scheduled to cant at Masses for Holy Week but unable to do so because she was in the hospital.

Her mentoring skills were put to use in her church as well, encouraging shy singers to join the choir or to become a cantor. She loved watching young children become involved in the music and mentored young singers as they joined the children’s choirs and became youth cantors as well. She sang for many weddings and funerals and served on the Liturgy and Music Committees.

Jeannie is predeceased by her parents, Joseph and Rose Barnaba, along with several beloved aunts and uncles. She is survived by her brother, Gary and sister-in-law Sheila, of Syracuse, NY, and her sister and brother-in-law, Marie and Jim Truillo, of Endwell, and their daughters, Nicole and her partner Greg, and Mary Rose and her partner, Geoff, along with an extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins.

Jeannie’s celebration of life will be held on Friday, May 16 at 12:00 noon at St. Catherine of Siena Parish. There will be visitation from 11:00 to 12:00, and the funeral will be followed by a reception in the parish hall. Internment will be at Calvary Cemetery, Fairview St., Johnson City on Saturday at 10:00 am.

Jeannie’s family would like to express their appreciation to Michelle and Juan Arroyo and Sherry Scanza, who were with Jeannie throughout her illness and particularly in her final days. The family is so grateful for their untiring devotion to her comfort and needs and in helping to plan her funeral. Jeannie’s family would also like to express appreciation to the Hospicare staff who took such loving care of Jeannie.

Jeannie loved volunteering for Hospicare and so valued the vital service it provided. She deeply appreciated the compassionate and loving care she received in her final days there. Donations in Jeannie’s memory can be made to Hospicare of Ithaca, NY.