Barbara Jean (Akin) Pace

Barbara Akin Pace, 74, of Muscle Shoals died peacefully at home on May 30, 2019 after an extended illness. 

The daughter of Martin Curvis and Lucy Viola Akin, Barbara was born on May 22, 1945 and grew up in the Poplar Creek area of Colbert County. She was baptized at the Poplar Creek Missionary Baptist Church. She attended the LaGrange School and graduated from Colbert County High School in 1963. She received bachelors (1974) and masters degrees in secondary education and English from the University of North Alabama. 

A lifelong educator, Barbara taught special education and then English at Colbert County High School from 1974 through her retirement in 2000, having previously taught at Victoria (Texas) High School. Six times the Colbert County students dedicated their annual yearbook to her. Barbara committed herself to loving all her students, whether in the high school classroom or in Sunday School and Bible Study at Valley Grove Baptist Church. She enjoyed literature, gardening, and being a devoted grandparent.

Barbara is survived by her loving husband Dewey Pace Jr.; son Greg Carey and his wife Jennifer Craighead Carey; granddaughters Erin and Emily Carey and step-grandsons Andrew and Isaac Schlager; her great-grandson Matthew Bennett Fries-Carey; her brother Bernard G. Akin and his wife Betty; and niece Kim Carmack and her husband Steve.

Pallbearers are Larry Allen, Ray Counts, Denson Grissom, Wayne Pace, Darryl Tverberg, and Cade Tverberg. Honorary pallbearers are Jackie Berryman, Steve Carmack, Athel Hacker, and Doug McDonald.

The family extends special thanks to Geraldine Dubose, Rose Johnson, Dorothy Aday, and Patricia Rutherford for the love and care they extended to Barbara, and to Alacare nurses Beth Butler, Jawana Hayes, Jamie Terry, Julie West, and others.

Visitation will be Saturday, June 1, 2019 from 5-7 p.m. at Colbert Memorial Chapel.  Service will be Sunday, June 2, 2019 at 2 p.m. in the chapel. Phillip Potter will be officiating. Burial will be in Colbert Memorial Gardens.

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