VolusiaNews.net and NSBNEWS.net provide 24/7 online-media coverage for a 21st-century world
(Courtesy photo). Grayce K. Barck, 82, past president of the North Beach Neighborhood Association, former teacher and active for many years in NSB politics, including a run for the City Commission, has died. The North Beach Park was later named for her by a unanimous vote of the City Commission.
(Courtesy photo). Grayce K. Barck, 82, past president of the North Beach Neighborhood Association, former teacher and active for many years in NSB politics, including a run for the City Commission, has died. The North Beach Park was later named for her by a unanimous vote of the City Commission.NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Grayce K. Barck, a pillar in the community for her neighhood leadership in North Beach and a longtime political insider who once ran for a city commission seat, died March 1. She was 82.
Barck succumbed Monday at the Southeast Volusia Care Center of Hospice of Volusia/Flagler. News of her death gave supporters and opponents reason to pause and pay their respects. She was a mentor to fellow North Beach resident and former City Commissioner Randy Richenberg. "Grayce was a very good friend," Richenberg said this morning. "She was just a major contributing part of the North Beach Community who did a lot of good things for New Smyrna."
Mayor Adam Barringer, elected in November, said Barck was skeptical about his campaign, but he said her loss is New Smyrna Beach's loss.
"She was not a supporter, I can tell you that," Barringer said. "She called me a Rhino, saying I was a Republican in name only because was with the Kosmas's. But I put those differences aside. It's the right thing for me to pay my respects to Grayce Barck for all of her active work in the North Beach."
New Smyrna Beach resident Bob Rees, a 20-year attendee of City Commission meetings, said Barck's contributions will be long-lasting.
"She's going to be missed by a lot of people in town," Rees said. "She's been so involved ith North Beach and projects like the Inland Navigation District. She's better off now in the afterlife because all of her pain and suffering is gone. She'll be missed."
Former Mayor Jim Vandergrifft recalled how Barck came within 30 votes of unseating then-City Commissioner Bill Rodgers for his second term a decade ago.
Vandergrifft said what he remembers most about Barck was her job as a teacher many years ago.
"She touched a lot of kids' lives," said Vandergrifft, 65. "I've known her since I was a little kid."
Her teaching career began in Tampa, where she taught science and physical education. In 1950, Barck moved to New Smyrna Beach to teach at New Smyrna Beach Senior High School on Live Oak Street, where along with teaching physical education and science, she became the first female driver education teacher in Florida.
During this time, she lived with Hannah Bonnet, the first female mayor of New Smyrna Beach, and a person Barck considered to be her second mother.
Born in Hoboken, N.J., Barck was orphaned as a girl; her mother died in childbirth and her father died when she was 8 years old.
Subsequently, she was raised by an aunt in Rocky Face, Ga. After graduation from Dalton (Georgia) High School, she earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville, where she was later awarded as an outstanding alumna. She also did graduate work at the University of Florida and the University of Maine.
In 1956, Barck left New Smyrna Beach for Europe to teach in Department of Defense schools for two years in Germany and five years in Italy at Camp Darby on the Italian Riviera.
It was then that she met an Army veterinarian, 1st Lieutenant John Barck. In 1965, Barck came back to New Smyrna Beach and taught at both Read-Pattillo Elementary School and at New Smyrna Beach Junior High School.
In 1970, she and Jack Barck were married. His military career took them to posts in the United States, Korea, the Middle East, and again Europe, including a fabulous four-year tour in Heidelberg, Germany, where she participated in the Wives Club activities and had a weekly radio program as "Alice Kaputt" on the Armed Forces Network.
In 1992, Jack Barck retired and they returned to New Smyrna Beach, where Grayce Barck became active in politics, beginning as president of the North Beach Neighborhood Association. She ran for New Smyrna Beach City Commissioner, to be defeated by only 30 votes.
Later, however, she was appointed as Volusia County Representative to the Florida Inland Navigational District and was able to bring considerable funds into this area for various projects.
Besides her husband of 40 years, Col. John Barck, D.V.M., U. S. Army (Retired); Grayce Barck is survived by two nieces and one nephew in Georgia; and several great-nieces and nephews.
Funeral services
A service to celebrate Barck's life will be 2 p.m. Friday, at the Settle-Wilder New Smyrna Beach Chapel. Memorial donations may be made in Mrs. Barck's memory to New Smyrna Beach CAPS Inc., P.O. Box 1808, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32170