On the morning of June 5th 2017, Wilfriede Barber passed away peacefully of natural causes at her home in Columbia, SC. Wilfriede was 80 years old.

Wilfriede was born in Bamberg, Germany on March 20, 1937 and the youngest of two daughters from parents Andreas and Maria Wittenbauer. Although Wilfriede grew up during World War II, she often spoke about how loving, kind, and giving her father had been. Wilfriede often spoke about how her uncles and cousins loved to play pranks on each other and always included her and her sister Helen.

Wilfriede started her career as a teenager working as an apprentice sales clerk at a German shoe store called “Shoe Novki”. Wilfriede’s second job was in the Bosch plant assembling spark plugs for cars. Wilfriede’s third job was working in the Post Exchange (PX) on the military installation located in Bamberg, Germany, where she met the “love of her life” her late husband, Cornelius Barber.

Wilfriede continued to work in retail in the United States in Zayres and J.C. Penny, but finally retired to help take care her grandchildren. Wilfriede loved all people. It did not matter race, education, or economic background. Many times homeless people would ask her for change and she would empty her purse to give them what she had until one day her husband asked her to stop or the family would be broke. Wilfriede enjoyed sewing, crafting, and baking but most of all, she loved the Lord; spending time and holidays with her church, husband, and children.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Cornelius A. Barber; mother, Maria Wittenbauer; and sister, Helen Schvmm.

Wilfriede is survived by her sons, Waldo (Debbie) Ford and Ross (Lorena) Barber; grandchildren: Ross C. Barber, Jr., Michaela A. Barber, and Erika Urrea, and a host of other relatives and friends who will miss her dearly.