06/03/2026
Robert Gordon Barton, Jr. passed away on May 31, 2026 at The Hospice House in Charlottesville with his daughter Holly by his side. It was a beautiful late spring day, temperature in the low seventies with a clear blue sky to match his eyes. A perfect day for golf. The Baltimore Orioles won. He would have celebrated these good things.
Born in Paterson, New Jersey on May 10, 1948, the first of the baby boomers, he was known as Bip and Skip but never wanted to be called late for supper. He was preceded in death by his wife Barbara, his parents Bob and Otty Barton and his sister Ly Scoskie.
Surviving him are his daughter Holly Kiessling (Volker), his grandchildren, Levin and Anton, and his brother Toby.
Bip was larger than life. His presence changed the dynamic of every room he entered, as he always added entertainment and joy. His passions were Nelson County and the people who lived there, sports, public education, Barbara, Holly and his grandsons. He was a storyteller, an athlete, a friend and a devourer of good literature. He lived a life committed to his deeply held values.
A basketball star in high school, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Kinnelon, New Jersey. As a senior, he averaged over 20 points a game and was tasked with guarding the other teams’ best player. He took this so seriously that he followed them to the water fountain at times. He was recruited to play at Colgate University, but stayed only one year as he didn’t quite know how to be a student. That led to a year at Bloomfield College, where he was recognized as an all-conference defensive player. The next year, he returned to Colgate, where he discovered his lifelong love of reading, arguing and the joy of learning, which he imparted to his future students.
He also became a Conscientious Objector during the Vietnam War. Believing that other people at their core were the same as he was, he couldn’t imagine looking another human in the eye and killing them.
At his college graduation, he met Barbara Oickle, whom he loved with all of his heart for the rest of their lives. Almost always successful at making her laugh, he spent his life devoted to her, even through her 8-year period of dementia. Bip always credited Barbara with being the brave one— the one who led them to Nelson County, the one who enabled them to live the unconventional lifestyle they loved by keeping costs down. At his core, though, he believed that Barbara thought he too was brave, so he did everything he could to prove her right.
Their daughter Holly was born in 1977 and became the second bright star in his orbit. Bip taught her to catch, to throw and to appreciate beauty in all its forms. He was overwhelmingly proud of her and adored her. She adored him, too.
After some exploring, they arrived in Nelson County in 1979, when Bip was 31. This began the happiest time of his life. At Nelson County High School he coached baseball and basketball and taught a variety of subjects, including History, Humanities, Economics and African American Studies. He retired in 2010 to care for his beloved Barbara, who needed him.
Bip’s life was changed by the African American Studies course that he designed and taught. The class started with the uplifting Civil Rights movement in the 1960s and ended with the tragedy of slavery over a century earlier. Among the readings were Toni Morrison’s novel “Beloved,” August Wilson’s play “Fences” and “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.” Bip frequently said that he learned as much from his students as they learned from him, and his genius as a teacher enabled his students to learn from each other. With an equal mix of black and white students in the classroom, there were tears and there was laughter. His fervent hope was that the class would resume at some point as it is that important.
Another highlight of his teaching and coaching tenure at Nelson County was being part of the NCHS baseball team that was the runner up in the State Baseball Tournament in 1982 losing to Dell Curry, who was the pitcher of the opposing team. That baseball team was recently inducted into the Nelson County Hall of Fame. He enjoyed celebrating and reuniting with the surviving team members at the high school by candlelight as the electricity was out.
His most proud achievement was taking care of Barbara during her eight-year illness. Despite the fact that her personality changed, he was able to preserve her dignity and continued to love her as he always had. There were funny/tragic moments. Once, Barbara drove over the Rucker Run Bridge in Norwood when it was under construction. She got stuck with the front of the car only prevented from plunging into the water by steel girders. When he finally found her, she was happily dancing and listening to Bob Marley. She rolled down the window and asked, “Where the *** is Esther?” With each new change, he adjusted and learned, but he never left her behind. She went everywhere with him.
After Barbara died, Bip was elected to serve on the Nelson County Board of Supervisors from 2020-2024. He hoped that at least a few of his former students would choose that path in the future.
Holly and Volker’s children Levin and Anton dominated the last chapter of Bip’s life and brought him much joy. They shared his deep love of sports and he loved that they did. Together, they watched games and matches on TV— anything that was on — providing non-stop commentary. He tried to impart his love of the Orioles to them and their mother believed that he succeeded in this, although she kept their secret safe. The boys would never acknowledge that they agreed with him because the three of them had the same type of relationship that Bip had with everyone else, which was to give each other an incredibly hard time.
Their Opa frequently tried to offer advice, enjoyed sharing his interest in the weather with Levin and taught Anton to be a fetcher as he tossed balls from his perch on the couch for his young apprentice to catch in dramatic fashion. He was pleased that Anton had “good hands.” Bip thought the world of both boys, sharing and inspiring Levin’s curiosity as well as his tendency to curse as a 10-year-old, and Anton’s impish sense of humor.
Bip also loved his large and diverse circle of friends, all of his students, beautiful Nelson County and his poorly constructed 700 square-foot board and batten cabin on 30 acres in the middle of the woods that was filled with books, records and art where he lived with the family he chose and cherished. Always determined to have a good time, he was fun to be around all the way til the end of his life. There is no way to replace him, but we are sure that he left a piece of himself in all of us.
And if you are wanting to honor him, there’s that pool…. Wouldn’t that be a great way to foster community? A public pool in Nelson County? One with blue water— the same color as the sky that is our constant life companion, the same color as Bip’s eyes.
A celebration of life will take place in the auditorium at Nelson County High School on Sunday, June 14, 2026 beginning at 2 pm. Visitation will be on Saturday, June 13 at the Wells/Sheffield Funeral Chapel in Lovingston from 3-6 pm.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to The Nelson County Education Foundation or to the Robert and Barbara Barton Scholarship for the Humanities. Both provide college scholarships for students graduating from Nelson County High School.
Address for the Nelson County Education Foundation is PO BOX 187, Lovingston, VA 22949.
Donations to the Robert and Barbara Barton Scholarship can be done in two ways:
By check— Make it payable to Charlottesville Area Community Foundation (CACF) and write “Barton Scholarship” in the memo line. Checks can be mailed to CACF at this address:
PO Box 1767, 410 E Water Street, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Online— Go to CACF website at https://cacfonline.org/, click “Donate Now”, then “Search Funds,” and type Barton in the keyword to pull up the fund.
The latter scholarship was kindly started by Paul Henderson, a former student, after Barbara passed away in 2016.
Family and friends may sign his virtual guestbook at www.WellsSheffield.com
